The first blend to come out of the new line is called ‘Y-Base Blend’ developed specifically for the production of ingredients which utilize yeast fermentation.
“With our Y-Base Blend, we help yeast fermentation companies significantly simplify a complex and error-prone part of their processes,” explained Dr. Gerlis von Haugwitz, product manager at Cremer. “Instead of sourcing, storing, weighing and dosing several individual salts separately, our customers receive an optimized, standardized and readily soluble trace element blend that can be used from laboratory scale through to industrial production.”
This is the German ingredients company’s first foray into blends, after building a name for itself as a specialist in carbon sources, nitrogen sources, mineral salts and trace elements.
Simplifying innovation
Yeast fermentation converts sugars into alcohol, acids, and gases, which producers harness to build flavors, functional compounds, and alternative proteins.
Many functional foods and dietary supplements utilize yeast ferments to concentrate, bio-enrich, or improve the bioavailability of essential nutrients.
For example, yeasts are frequently cultured in mineral-rich broths to convert inorganic minerals into organic, highly bioavailable protein-bound complexes such as selenium yeast, chromium yeast, or zinc yeast.
Additionally, herbs can be fermented to break down tough plant cell walls, increasing the bioavailability of active compounds.
And through precision fermentation, scientists can program yeast cells within industrial tanks to brew specific molecules, including lactoferrin, proteins, and collagen.
Von Haugwitz explained the new line is a result of conversations with several companies in the fermentation industry which revealed that despite manufacturers have similar requirements, they each formulate their trace elements individually, resulting in high development costs and additional challenges in reproducibility, scaling, and procurement.
“Although trace elements are used only in small quantities, they can still have a significant impact on growth and process stability,” he said. “Y-Base Blend therefore combines selected minerals and trace elements in one standardized formulation.”
‘Better performance’ than in-house blends
Created in collaboration with biotech start-up Differential Bio, a spin-off from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, Y-Blend was created after conducting 3,300 yeast fermentation trials. More than 50,000 possible trace element combinations were initially assessed and narrowed down for study with different yeast strains.
The final blend was selected from nine “particularly high-performing formulations” at microliter scale.
In FermBase’ testing, the blend reportedly delivered equal or improved performance compared with customers’ respective in-house blends.
“For us, it was particularly important not only to develop Y-Base Blend under laboratory conditions, but also to validate it in customer processes using bioreactors,” said von Haugwitz. “The fact that our standardized blend often performed even better than individually developed in-house blends confirms our approach.”
The blend is available across the globe, from quantities as small as one kilogram for initial laboratory trials, up to several tonnes.
