This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop and cost effectively manufacture natural anthocyanin colorants as alternatives to synthetic dyes. The food, dietary supplements and beverage market has decisively shifted towards utilizing natural colorants. Technologies available currently are not adequate to meet the current and projected demand for natural colorants cost effectively. The ChromaDex process utilizes microbial production techniques to manufacture high purity, low cost anthocyanins in large quantities for use as a natural colorant.
The broader impact of this research spans several industry segments. More and more synthetic dyes and colorants are being pulled from the marketplace due to health and safety concerns. Anthocyanin natural colorants eliminate the health and safety concern that is growing among consumers over the use of synthetic products in food and pharmaceuticals. These colorants can be utilized in natural dye sensitized solar cells, as anti-oxidant dietary supplements etc. Every pound of anthocyanin produced by the fermentation approach replaces an equivalent pound of synthetic colorant and helps to conserve the world's oil supply, protect the environment and provide safe food products.
There has been a significant shift in society and industry over the past several years to move away from synthetic dyes and adapt to natural, non-toxic ones. Companies both large and small are seeking natural colorants as alternatives to synthetic dyes. To this end, anthocyanins have attracted considerable attention over the last decade as a source for a desirable natural colorant. Despite the increased demand for anthocyanins, current techniques of attaining pure or well defined mixtures have been costly and outweigh the potential market return with significantly high poduction costs. In addition, existing technologies for producing natural colorants tap into the common food source. A potentially cost effective alternative for meeting the market need for anthocyanin based colorants is utilizing a fermentation process that employes genetically engineered microorganisms. This approach does not divert food supplies for colorant generation and utilizes a green fermentation approach to generate anthocyanin colorants. This alternate technology was initially vetted through an SBIR Phase I project and developed further under a SBIR Phase II funding. The main outcome of this project has been the development of an efficient, single step fermentation process for the production of anthocyanin colorants. Significant issues have been addressed surrounding the optimization of the anthocyanin producing strains and subsequent fermentation process development. This outcome paves the way for furthering and enabling the production of anthocyanin colorants at commercial scales a reality. The anthocyanins provide an added advantage of a visually appealing colorant being a functionally relevant antioxidant as well. This technology and approach to anthocyanin production by fermentation has broader impacts on the environment and society. On the environmental front, the fermentation approach eliminates a solvent waste problem typically associated with extraction of anthocyanins from botanicals. Within the society, it does not take away food sources for colorant production. Every pound of anthocyanin colorant produced using this technology replaces an equivalent pound of synthetic colorant used as food, drug or cosmetic colorant and helps to conserve the world's oil supply, protect the environment and provide safe food products.
