Fortune 500 co. seeks Holy Grail of clean label solvent for ‘natural’ beverages

In a posting on the website NineSights, open innovation expert NineSigma says: “ The ‘gold standard’ solvent, if one were to exist, would have the physical and chemical properties of ethanol (in terms of viscosity and ability to solubilize ingredients), without ethanol’s challenges such as low flash point, potability, and negative consumer perception.” The “next best” option ispropylene glycol , says NineSigma . “However, its ability to solubilize ingredients is not as good as ethanol, and it also has consumer-related issues and an off-taste in final products.” Its client is therefore seeking solvent technologies that can reproduce the viscosity and solubility performance of ethanol andpropylene glycol , “without the commercial and consumer issues”. Label-friendly ingredient a must The successful solvent will ideally meet a definition of ‘natural’, either as obtained through fermentation and/or extraction with water or alcohol, it says. It will also: Solution might involve esterified glycols produced via fermentation Possible approaches might involve esterified glycols via fermentation or enzymes or solvents currently used in other industries such as pharmaceuticals or cosmetics, it says. However, the client is not interested in triacetin because of its poor solubility and miscibility, Glycerol, 1-3 propane diol, “any solution that does not provide for a label-friendly alternative ”, or beverage emulsions, vegetable oils and non-polar substances that are not miscible in water. Responses are due by July 19, 2013. Click here for more details. Click here to watch all of the presentations from FoodNavigator-USA's recent Natural & Clean Label Trends 2013 event free, on-demand.

Fortune 500 co. seeks Holy Grail of clean label solvent for ‘natural’ beverages

A Fortune 500 manufacturer is looking for partners to help it find more consumer-friendly clean-label non-aqueous solvent technologies to sue in its ready-to-drink beverages.

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