According to ScotBio, the natural colourant is well suited to a variety of applications, from confectionery, to ice creams and beverages. Interestingly, Van Alstyne noted, it appears to be more stable than other natural blues and can even be used in alcoholic beverages. “We start with a higher quality phycocyanin within the organism, which makes it easier when it comes to extraction. We can extract more. And what we have also found is we tend to have slightly better stability. We can, for example, make blue gin. If you take the phycocyanin out of traditional pond grown spirulina and put it into an alcohol it would denature completely. “It basically means we have a very high quality and purity phycocyanin.” ScotBio’s research and development teams have also successfully spray dried the pure molecule. This is significant because ‘most other producers’ have to buffer it with sugar, Van Alstyne explained. “Trehalose is the sugar commonly used if you look at the market leading product.... See full list on Indoor production also ‘ticks a lot of boxes’ for food makers looking to source natural blues, Van Alstyne observed. “With the drive for clean labels forcing brands to switch to natural colours manufacturers have certain challenges or requirements thudes end-to-end traceability, a controlled environment, security of supply, knowing there is year-round supply. “Open ponds don’t necessarily tick all of those boxes. With an open pond system there are greater risks of contamination. There is a growing season – you can’t grow by 365, which we can do.” Van Alstyne stressed that one particular risk of growing outdoors is that contamits can enter the system. ScotBio’s controlled environment offers a solution: “There is significantly less risk of any contamination finding its way into the system. There is full control of every input that goes into the system.” “The methodology we employ in our growth through controlled mechanisms and growing cycle... See full list on To date, ScotBio has undertaken ‘very limited engagements’ with customers, sampling with big brands, ingredient suppli. With a recently completed funding round for £2m the group is now gearing up to accelerate its business. “We have got a situation where right place, right time, right product,” Van Alstyne said. “The market conditions are very good. There is high demand for spirulina extract. There is an undersupply in the marketplace. Our objective is to continue to scale our product and to become a market leader and get a good chunk of market share.” The next step is opening a large-scale pilot plant that moves production from 2,000 litre tanks to 50,000 litre tanks to ‘prove the model’. Within 12 months ScotBio expects to open a second large-scale facility. See full list on While bringing its phycocyanin to mass scale is ScotBio’s immediate foc is also working on other areas of innovation to ‘future proof’ the business. “Longer term we are looking to expand the product portfolio to bring in some different ingredients, whether it be proteins or other biochemicals. But those are in an earlier staudes efforts to fully utilise the spirulina biomass in order to valorise what are currently waste streams and decrease food loss. “Once we have taken the phycocyanin out of the spirulina there is still quite a lot of biomass left with other high value biochemicals in it and a high percentage of protein. We want to use as much of that biomass as w’s core focus on natural ingredients – and separated by a ‘porcelain wall’ – it is also collaborating with scientists at the University of Edinburgh through two projects examining synthetic biology. “We are looking... See full list on
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