VANCOUVER — More plant-based molecules will be developed to help produce plant-derived food and beverage ingredients thanks to a new partnership between Tate & Lyle PLC and BioHarvest Sciences. BioHarvest Sciences uses botanical synthesis technology to grow plant-based molecules without the need to grow the plant. Together, the companies will develop sweeteners, specifically botanical sweetening ingredients, while using plant-derived molecules.
“Our open innovation program is all about creating cutting-edge solutions for the food and beverage industry,” said Nick Hampton, chief executive officer of Tate & Lyle. “By partnering with entrepreneurial innovators like BioHarvest, we aim to disrupt the future of food for the better.”
BioHarvest uses a botanical synthesis platform that produces non-GMO, plant-derived ingredients to scale the production of botanical ingredients. The process produces molecules by growing targeted plant cells that may mirror and magnify the phyto-nutrients contained in specific plants, according to the company.
“This partnership forms a major milestone in the history of BioHarvest Sciences,” said Yochi Hagay, PhD, chief technology officer and co-founder of BioHarvest Sciences. “It follows more than 15 years of intensive R&D and manufacturing scaling of our botanical synthesis technology process to the point that global innovators like Tate & Lyle can now leverage our capabilities to develop new plant-derived molecules to better meet consumer demand for healthier food and beverages.”
