Seeking: Natural preservatives for beverages

We are seeking organic chemistries to act as natural preservatives for a variety of beverages, and would be interested in new products and materials that have antimicrobial effects and could be easily formulated into a range of different pH-based beverage products. We are looking for a natural alternative that results in the protection from microbial spoilage at various stages of the beverage’s life, beginning when it is bottled and extending through its shelf life, beverage opening and consumption. Ideally, the new solution will extend the overall lifetime of the beverage over existing methods, while most importantly being a natural, stable, and non-toxic preservative.

Consumers are driving innovation in the beverage market and are always looking for new and exciting products with more healthy choices and flavors. No existing preservation methods work across all pHs and therefore beverage companies are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain sterile products on bottling lines which have multiple changes from product to product. This is particularly true if the producer is working with both dairy and fruit products. While most traditional preservatives e.g. Sodium benzoate and sorbate have an excellent broad spectrum antimicrobial; producers are looking for alternatives in the face of mounting consumer pressure for natural solutions.

A solution must fit the following constraints:

• It must be natural in origin and safe for consumer and beverage use. Information on the status and the registration of the actives is a necessity (GRAS approved, FDA approval etc).
• It must be colorless, odorless, and tasteless at the concentration necessary for it to act as a preservative, but each solution will be assessed on its own merit for each market.
• It must have the ability to act as a preservative against bacteria, yeast, molds, and fungi and be effective at low concentrations (below 1%) as the natural solution is not to change the nature of the beverage.
• The active must be easily formulated into a range of beverages without affecting the physical properties of the product such as turbidity and viscosity. The natural preservative must remain in solution for the life span of the product.
• We are also looking for solutions that are patentable (will accept solutions with patent applications in progress and solutions where the chances of getting patents granted are high).
• The product should be reproducible and production should be scalable.

Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate are used at present; we are seeking natural alternatives to these chemicals and exploring possibilities of extending the shelf-life of beverages in storage and at the point of opening. Also in some cases, beverages are filled aseptically in order to make sure that there are no microbes present, however this is a costly process and does not increase the shelf-life of the product once it is opened.

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