Good Together - Life is a series of chemical reactions encapsulated in a self-replicating system. Viewed from this perspective, life science disciplines including foods is basically chemistry. Understanding the chemistry of molecules and reactions is imperative for food and food ingredient manufacture.

Today, most universities worldwide have groups researching the various aspects of food. Needless to say, the synergy between the chemical and food research groups is the key to successful innovation in these institutions. Industrial research has also taken a proactive stance in combinatorial product development, combining fundamental chemistry with exclusive biotech and food related subjects like fermentation and sensory analysis for new product development.

Advances in the field of nanotechnology, for example, have allowed nanofoods to be developed. Nano size particles of nutrient increase their absorption. Silver and magnesium nanoparticles are used for coating food packaging materials, to prevent microbial spoilage. Flavors are being nanoencapsulated. An innovative application of an emerging technology has happened in the foods arena to solve hitherto common problems.
The synergy between the chemical and food industries is not restricted to "nano" alone. There are a lot of areas where chemical technology is an important area of food product development and manufacture. During the early 20th century, George Washington Carver's path breaking work to find value added uses for peanuts, lead to a change in thinking about agricultural commodities and their uses for modern industry. Today, the same thought process is being applied to nearly all crops. Soy, a traditional Asian legume, has become an important cash crop merely because its applications range from making biofuels, bioplastics and adhesives right up to its direct use as a protein supplement in human and animal diets.

Unlimited Synergy Potential

Manufacturing industries in nearly all segments face two major challenges - renewable and sustainable feed stocks and reducing the embodied energy of finished products. The food industry is no exception. New technologies which address the issue of sustainability as well as reducing the energy consumed in manufacturing foods are being introduced. Enzymes are process aids that can substantially reduce the energy required for processing sugars or manufacture of fruit juices for example. Enzymes are also being used in biotransformation processes for creating biofuels, APIs, plastics and aromatics.

The synergy between the chemical and food industries has unlimited potential. The key areas where chemical industries have already found a synergy in working with or within the food industry are

• ingredient design and manufacture;
• natural product extraction and purification; and
• food formulation (bio)chemistry.

Ingredient Design & Manufacture

This involves a prudent selection of biochemicals that can cater to diverse applications. One of the breakthrough successes in the field of ingredient design is in the way the food industry has responded to the mounting need for nutritious and healthy food. Today, retail shelves proudly present a wide variety of healthy food choices. This includes low calories to zero calories, low fat to no fat, low salt, variants to choose from. One common challenge in all these foods is palatability. Fat, for example, when removed can make the food unacceptable in more than one way.

"Lipid Chemistry" came as a solution to this problem with fat replacers. These are individual or a combination of lipids, proteins or carbohydrates which - when applied - offers the functional and sensory attributes to the end-product. Olestra, a sucrose polyester is approved as a 100% replacement of fat in savory snacks. Though products containing olestra are required to comply with labeling information that presents the side effects of this ingredient, its successful principle of biochemical synergy is indisputable. Olestra was first developed by Procter & Gamble (P&G). This innovation complemented their leading position in the health and wellbeing foods sector. Companies like DSM, BASF, Cargill and Dow are examples for leading chemical suppliers who have in many ways extended the principle product chemistry in designing solutions for food applications.

Natural Product Extraction & Purification

Phytochemicals are fast catching on the "natural foods" mega trend in the food industry. Since early 1990s, the industry is witnessing an ever increasing trend of replacing "synthetic" with "natural." Thus enzymes (replacement for emulsifiers), natural vitamins, natural pigments (replacement for synthetic colors), botanical extracts (replacement for synthetic antioxidant / antimicrobials) have gained steadfast pace of growth. Interestingly, many chemical houses compete with food ingredient suppliers in this space. For example, lipases range of enzymes produced by DSM targets DATEM emulsifiers widely used in bakery application. The comparison of growth rates of enzymes in the bakery industry against the total synthetic emulsifiers market is presented in Fig.1.

Many such examples such as the growth of rosemary extracts in the food antioxidant market can be stated to endorse the increasing importance of natural product lines in the food ingredients / additives business.
Though, high cost is the main discouraging factor that slows down the rate of adoption of most of the natural ingredients, efficient sourcing & production are indicating brighter growth prospects.

Food Formulation: (Bio)Chemistry & Analytical Techniques

While portraying food industry trends that have induced several changes in ingredient design and product chemistries with the use of more bioactive components, no one can deny the complex challenges that it brings along in the final formulation. Formulation is a tricky science of co-existence of ingredients without affecting, at the same time complementing each other. Analysis of functional, physical, physiological and biochemical parameters of every ingredient to offer a tasty, safe and healthy outcome is easier said than done. The expert technical support offered by ingredient houses is the key behind many successful products in the market. Microencapsulation technology has been well adapted by ingredient companies in keeping the bioactive components intact for both sensory and functional purposes. This not only requires expertise of a food technologist but also that of a chemist to apply apt analytical techniques for the biochemical assessment at a crucial stage of production. Leading suppliers of food ingredients are sensitive to these requirements and have been catering quite satisfactorily to the food industry.
Combinatorial chemistry is leading to a lot of new product development. An example of this, successful to a limited degree, has been enzymatically modified stevioside. This product has superior sensory properties compared to the naturally occurring mixture of steviol glycosides. Until the process for purification of rebaudioside A, a sensorially superior steviol glycoside, could be fine tuned, the enzymatically modified product remained the product of choice for many manufacturers.

A lot of the research work done on developing the steviol glycosides were carried out by Japanese chemical companies, which had the technology and infrastructure to make a purified product from the crude extract. There are literally thousands of patents on steviol glycosides covering extraction, purification, modification and applications. Molecular entities may now be developed, tested and validated in-silico before going in for actual synthesis. The recent interest in steviol glycosides revolves around creating value added molecules for agriculture applications. Analytical techniques for steviol glycosides run the entire gamut of qualitative and quantitative methods. Developing robust and replicable techniques is important for quality control in this emerging ingredient and the contribution of companies like Merck or Chromadex cannot be underestimated.

Synergy Potential: Green Chemistry

"Green chemistry" was coined in the early 1990s and is defined as "the invention, design and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances." The food industry does not sound like a major polluting industry and therefore not a key area of focus for green chemistry initiatives. With its significant contribution to global GDP, the food industry is quite a large area where green chemistry can make a change for the better of the environment.

Enzymes are replacing synthetic emulsifiers in many applications, including bakery products. Enzymes are fermentation derived, with renewable feedstock and low energy consumption for manufacture. Replacement of the synthetic emulsifiers by enzymes represents a key green chemistry initiative, based on our understanding of the chemical makeup of dough and bread. One company has also gone ahead and claimed carbon footprint reduction for its enzyme used in Chinese bread manufacture.

Enzymes are the crossover point between traditional chemistry and modern biology. They are key components of both green chemistry and white biotechnology.

White Biotech

White biotechnology is the third wave of biotechnology innovation after green and red covering agriculture and healthcare. White biotechnology has gained prominence of late due to the need for shifting the hydrocarbon-based economy to a more renewable and sustainable platform. Covering areas such as biotransformation, this wave of technology represents an opportunity for synthetic food ingredient manufacturers to shift to more environmentally benign technologies.

Many companies have been working on developing biotechnology based synthetic routes for terpene-based flavor molecules. Each company's strategy differs in degrees, but the aim of creating chemical aroma entities with renewable resources has been achieved. Environmental benefits, control over the supply chain and maintenance of quality gain prominence over cost in this case.

When talking of adapting chemical processes for food product manufacture, there are quite a few examples. An apt illustration is provided by supercritical carbon dioxide, which is used in the dry cleaning industry to replace perchloroethylene. Supercritical fluids, including carbon dioxide, are now being applied to extraction in high efficiency of phytochemicals. It provides advantages of higher purity, lower cost, lower toxicity and less environmental effects of using traditional organic solvents.

Striking Synergy
Some examples of chemical companies who are leading food ingredient suppliers

DSM
Royal DSM is a Dutch company with a history spanning more than 100 years. The current product and services portfolio comprises materials and life sciences including food. With an annual turnover of around €8 billion, the company has a footprint in five major continents and employs nearly 22,000 people. DSM started in 1902 as a coal mine and evolved over the past century to cover in progression, fertilizers, petrochemicals, performance materials, Life Sciences products including food ingredients and currently offer Biomaterials and Biologics.
DSM has been on the forefront on combining their chemical and materials divisions with their life sciences divisions to create innovative solutions. Some recent innovations include cheese packaged in breathable plastic allowing the cheese to mature in-transit. This innovation is targeted for introduction by the end of 2010. A spin off from DSM has also been responsible for developing a biotransformation technology for creating flavor molecules.

The Dow Chemical Company
Dow has annual sales of $45 billion across 37 countries and employs nearly 52,000 people worldwide. Dow chemical company was incorporated as early as 1897 for the manufacture of bleach. In 1906, the company started producing sodium benzoate as a food preservative. In 1962, the bioproducts division was established to synergize research for pharmaceutical, biological, animal healthcare and agriculture. In this year, Dow also introduced consumer products like Handi-Wrap plastic films and Ziploc bags for food packaging.
Dow is now a leading supplier of naturally-derived cellulose ingredients for use in a wide variety of food and beverage applications. Dow's brands include Methocel, Fortefibre and Clear+Stable, and provide health benefits related to maintaining healthy glucose and cholesterol levels and reducing the fat content of foods, in addition to functional advantages such as thickening, stabilizing and emulsifying.

BASF
BASF employs around 105,000 employees with 385 production sites worldwide. The company, founded in 1865, is more than 140 years old. BASF, expanded as Badische Anilin & Soda Fabrik, was formed to create value added products from coal tar. BASF's first brush with the food industry happened as early as 1939, with the filing of a patent for PolyVinylPyrrolidone (PVP), an acetylene derivative with applications in medicine, pharmacy, cosmetics and industry. PVP can be used as a flocculant in liquids like wines for clarification.
BASF is currently a big player in vitamins, with a 40,000 metric ton world-scale plant for citral in Ludwigshafen. This fine chemical intermediate is the starting material for the production of vitamins A and E, carotenoids and a range of aroma chemicals. In 1987, BASF developed a biotechnological method in which vitamin B2 is made from vegetable oils in a single microbiological step. New biotechnological processes are also developed to produce natural flavours that are becoming increasingly popular as additives in beverages and milk products.
BASF together with its Swedish partner, Svalöf Weibull, established BASF plant science. BPS conducts research on plant genetic engineering, which in addition to other things hopes to develop omega-3 rich plant varieties.