NextFerm Technologies files patent for astaxanthin-producing yeast strains

Published: 8-Oct-2019

The patent will cover the specific yeast strains used to produce AstaFerm

Israel-based NextFerm Technologies has filed a patent for producing natural astaxanthin from yeast fermentation for human nutrition, branded as astaferm. The patent will protect specific yeast strains used for its production. NextFerm said that astaferm is the first natural astaxanthin produced from yeast for human consumption.

Dr Tzafra Cohen, NextFerm Co-founder and Senior VP R&D, said: "At the fundamental level of our production capacity you will find a yeast strain called: Phaffia rhodozyma, which naturally expresses astaxanthin."

"By applying our unique non-GMO strain-improvement technologies, we've been able to develop proprietary, superior, Phaffia strains, which are capable of over-expressing astaxanthin at commercial levels. Such levels of expression have not been recorded previously and make our fermentation process, a commercially preferable source of astaxanthin moving forward," Cohen added.

"In our industry, astaxanthin has been considered as the most potent, natural antioxidant and has been traditionally extracted from Algae. We seek to disrupt the existing status-quo with our science and technology and what we are getting is indeed an astaxanthin product having: higher potency, better flowability, with no odour or flavour whether its liquid or powder and most importantly, with competitive pricing from day one." concluded Cohen.

NextFerm is an Israeli biotech company that is focused on developing and producing novel active ingredients for food that are based on exclusive, non-GMO technologies and on supporting clinical research.

Astaferm is the first yeast-derived astaxanthin offered for human consumption along with clinical data and self-GRAS approval. It will be exhibited by NextFerm at the coming Supply-Side West show.

You may also like