Animal scares create demand for vegetarian ingredients

[Guest guest]

Animal scares create demand for vegetarian ingredients

 

13/01/2006- Food safety fears have led to the emergence a new market

in vegetarian supplement ingredients, and industry insiders predicting

that as many as half of all ingredients could be non-animal derived in

the next ten years.

 

Scares such as BSE in cattle and avian 'flu in poultry have prompted

consumers and marketers to cast about for supplements containing no

animal derivatives, and that means ingredient companies are having to

reconsider the carriers they use or develop synthetic variants or seek

out vegetarian sources for many of their products.

 

Lukas Christian, global product manager for beta-carotene at DSM

Nutritional Products, told NutraIngredients.com that he believes the

demand for non-animal ingredients stems not so much from growing

numbers of traditional vegetarians, but from people who are concerned

about diseases in certain animal species.

 

Christian said he does not expect that animal-derived ingredients to

disappear completely, but that vegetarian versions are likely to be

come more than a niche over the next five to 10 years, representing 30

to 50 percent of all ingredients.

 

DSM yesterday announced the launch of its new non-animal synthetic

beta-carotene BetaTab 20% S, which joins CaroCare 7.5% percent beta

carotene (from the Blakeslea trispora microorganism), All-Q coenzyme

Q10, Optisharp zeaxanthin, lutein, vitamin A and vitamin E in the

company's non-animal portfolio.

 

" If you have a complete portfolio of vegetarian ingredients, you will

be prepared for any animal health-scare that breaks, " said Christian.

 

He said that the market is already quite competitive. For instance,

BASF and Biodar have also both announced the vegetarian beta-carotene

in recent months, and BASF has a vegetarian vitamin E.

 

Other companies that have made inroads into the market include Kemin

Health, with its FloraGLO Lutein 5% VG Granules, and Cognis Nutrition

& Health with Xangold 10% microencapsulated lutein ester beadlets.

 

Frost & Sullivan has not yet conducted any research that tracks

vegetarian ingredients separately, but analyst Kathie Brownlie agreed

that the market is driven by crises – and it did not exist a decade

ago.

 

" General vegetarian ingredients also have a healthy image, and that

certainly helps, " she said.

 

Christian also identified subtleties in the trend in different

markets. For example in Asia consumers are not concerned about fish

gelatin but in Europe there has been some discussion over allergens in

fish.

 

This is an area that Cargill has picked up on with its fungus-derived

glucosamine hydrocholoride. Part of the motivation behind this is

fluctuating shrimp supply from Asia, but the fact that it is

allergen-free, vegetarian and kosher is a unique selling point.

 

When it comes to gelatine, however, a common carrier and the animal

derivative that supplement users are most familiar with since it is

used as the delivery system for soft gels, the concerns appear to be

unfounded.

 

" We have totally proven that there is no link between gelatin and

BSE, " Oliver Wols of gelatine specialist The Gelita Group told

NutraIngredients.com.

 

Wols explained that even if pathogens did find there way into the raw

materials – and there are rigorous checks, including tests on the live

animals, to prevent that from happening – the production process would

kill off 10,000 more pathogens that could possibly be in it.

 

He added that no alternative has as much proof behind it for human consumption.

 

Chris Olivant of the UK's Vegetarian Society told NutraIngredients.com

that numbers of vegetarians tend to peak in the immediate aftermath of

a animal health scare, but drop back down to prior levels afterwards.

 

Overall he said vegetarianism has followed a steady upwards curve over

the past decade.

 

A 2002 Datamonitor report estimated that there are around 12 million

vegetarians in Europe.

 

http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?n=65085-dsm-vegetarian-food-safety-g\

elatine