Solazyme and Bunge expand JV to focus on food

Solazyme and Bunge Limited have agreed to bolster their joint-venture (JV) with the inclusion of a focus on food.

While building on Solazyme’s microalgae innovation platform and Bunge’s leadership in food and ingredients, including vegetable oils through the JV, the firms also inked an agreement to expand their co-funded research programmes to include new products in nutrition and specialty fats.

As part of this agreement, Bunge’s global food oil sales and applications team will market AlgaWise Ultra Omega-9 Algae Oil, AlgaWise High Stability Algae Oil, and AlgaWise Algae Butter structuring fats, besides handling oil processing and supply chain aspects of commercialisation.

AlgaWise Ultra Omega-9 Algae Oil is a clean tasting oil, claimed to have the highest level of monounsaturated fats (>90%) available in the market, and the lowest level of saturated fat of any food oil (<4%).

This oil is positioned as a healthier alternative to saturated fat oils, and is claimed to offer shelf-life stability and culinary performance.

AlgaWise High Stability Algae Oil is comprised of over 87% monounsaturated fatty acids, and only 2% polyunsaturates, which is less than any other food oil.

High Stability Algae Oil provides oxidative stability, and has zero trans-fat per serving. It has a neutral flavour and high stability, characteristic under varying conditions, making it a high-performance oil that works well in industrial frying, spraying / coating, pan spraying and blending. It also enables food manufacturers to remove added preservatives in foods such as dressings and mayonnaise.

AlgaWise Algae Butter comes with a functionality that is akin to high-value structuring fats such as shea stearin, with a large proportion of stearic-oleic-stearic triglycerides (70%).

This oil can be used in a wide range of products and is expected to bring significant value in confectionery based on its reliable, scalable and sustainable supply. The product is expected to be available for the US market in 2016.

Bunge Limited CEO Soren Schroder said, "Strengthening our relationship with Solazyme gives us a differentiated product offering in specialty food and feed ingredients. With Solazyme, we believe we are bringing true innovation and enhanced sustainability to the global food industry.

"These healthier algae products have tremendous potential to make a positive impact in nutrition and functionality for our customers around the globe, and we’re excited about the potential to broadly commercialise them."

Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson said: "Bunge is a leading global agribusiness and food company, and has been a strong long-term partner who shares our vision. Not only do they have fantastic capabilities but they also understand the value of both our ingredients and our underlying technology platform.

We are very happy to be deepening and expanding the partnership to include Bunge’s global food sales, marketing, and applications strength and presence. This will further enable our algae-based food ingredients to bring great benefits to people and our planet."