Fully customized solutions for fermented products

Escalating issues over artificial food has increased the demand for natural alternatives in both health food and conventional food channels.​

The global health food market was valued at USD $375.61 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.05% between 2021 and 2027.¹​ Junk food provides little nutritional value and is often high in fat, salt and sugar, as it has been manipulated, engineered and pumped with preservatives, prompting health experts to call for more policies to help people eat healthier foods. We need to break the junk food cycle.

Consuming fewer than 10 portions of plant-based foods a week – such as nuts, seeds, wholegrains, legumes, fruit and vegetables – can negatively impact microbial diversity levels within the gut. Therefore, maintaining the balance of diet will be the primary choice for people. Daily habits in the workplace are slowly chipping away at our body. Most office folk go out for an unhealthy lunch once in a while – some more than others, but even the occasional indulgence has its negative effects. 

The most notable trends in health currently are clean label, plant-based and fermentation food. Of these, the fermented foods and beverages market reached US $575.6 Bn in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% during the period 2022-2032.²​

The benefits of fermentation products from natural sources and good bacteria can help support immunity and a healthy digestive system by lining the digestive system and helping to body break down food and absorb nutrients. Moreover, fermentation products are suitable for most people who are lactose intolerant. In the food category, color range is important visually and a natural color needs to withstand the production processes. The natural color from fermented is a sustainable choice that provides a wide range of options.

Fermentation products use a natural fermenting process which dramatically increases bioavailability, allowing the human body to absorb and utilize all of a food’s powerful nutrients. In this way, ingredients are processed without the use of harsh chemical solvents or unnecessary fillers, which helps to safeguard their nutritional value.

Healthy growth underpinned by investments

Due to the rise in consumer demand for healthier foods, biotech company HSF predicts considerable market potential for applications in fermentation items. Starting with extracting natural vitamin E, sterol and micro-encapsulated powders, HSF has created a rapid and healthy growth in global reputation and technology accumulation, amassing 10 years’ continuous R&D and optimization of fermentation and extracting technology.

The company has invested US $5.5 million and US $10 million across its two manufacturing sites to establish a medium and large-scale fermentation and extraction manufacturing facilities. With the two individual fermentation factories, its product line Fermtek™ can offer customers a range of options with small, mid-sized and large-scale production capacity, from natural beta carotene, DHA, co-enzyme Q10, lycopene, and a variety of customized and directional fermentation services.

Rich experience of fermentation

HSF Fermtek™ divides fermentation into two categories. Firstly, the production of microorganisms which are purely controllable and work by standardizing and shortening the process of fermenting food, while delivering flavour and texture over time, such as fruit and vegetable fermentation and herbs fermentation. Secondly, to use fast-growing metabolizing microorganisms as cell factories to target productions that are difficult to obtain in large quantities in nature – for example, the company’s standard products of DHA oil, beta carotene, lycopene and coenzyme Q10.

For instance, in the product development of FermHerb™, the partner customer as a raw material supplier requires innovation in product technology. According to the customer's requirement, the team accurately selects the appropriate strain of bacteria for its biological fermentation in order to improve efficacy of the product. With fermentation of the product, the free radical scavenging ability can increase by five times compared with raw materials.

Comprehensive technical capabilities

In order to enhance the controllability and sustainability of the fermentation process, as well as the safety and nutritional properties of the products, HSF has optimized and reconstructed the research methods and fermentation processes of food fermentation with the help of modern biotechnology, information technology and engineering equipment, including:

• the isolation and identification of the original bacterial flora, isolated from thousands of samples, such as Bacillus, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Lactobacillus, Lactobacillus, Bacillus
• the metabolic characteristics and functional analysis of relevant microorganisms, through screening to improve the metabolic pathways of microorganisms, regulate the metabolic flow, so that they can be directed to the efficient production of functional products
• Through analysis of strain growth, conducting a large number of experiments to optimize fermentation conditions such as temperature, oxygen, PH and the amount and manner of substrate and nutrient replenishment. Using international advanced fully self-controlled fermentation equipment, precise regulation of fermentation technology to prepare functional factors, further discovering and extracting natural functional ingredients.

Smart production and customized fermentation

The characteristics of fermented products cannot fully meet the individual and varied needs of all manufacturers. Working in partnership with them, HSF has launched Fermtek™ which can be tailored to a range of market applications and bespoke requirements of customers. The company is committed to researching microbial fermentation technology and application trends, continuously investing in research and the development of cutting-edge microbial fermentation technology in order to optimize and improve microbial strains and extraction processes.

In this way, the company strives to provide the most professional microbial fermentation differentiation services for a range of customers working within the realms of fermentation of natural products, fermentation intermediates, fermentation bacterium, fermentation plant extracts, fermentation of Chinese herbs and the fermentation of fruits and vegetables.

References​

1. Health Food Market Research Insights Report 2023 | Latest Report Spread Across [115 Pages]
2. Fermented Foods and Beverage Markets​ (2022-2032).