Preservatives are used broadly in home, personal care, food, and beverage products to ward off pathogenic organisms and slow spoilage. They contribute to extending a product’s shelf-life and ensure product safety. Following years of negative attention on preservatives, brand owners are addressing concern in response to emerging regulatory action and consumer outcry. Federal legislation was introduced in 2022 to create stricter GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) regulations, which could impact artificial preservatives in food and personal care products. At the same time, consumers increasingly want to understand ingredient names on the labels they use. In anticipation of increased regulations and in response to consumer demand, many brands are working to identify better and safer preservatives for their consumer products.
Understanding that their consumers want to see more natural preservatives on labels our client, a Fortune 500 FMCG manufacturer, asked RTI Innovation Advisors to help position them to continually deliver more natural preservatives in their products.
To accomplish this, we conducted a broad technology landscape of natural preservatives for both spoilage and pathogenic organisms and curated more detailed information for promising solutions to selected challenges. We organized natural preservative solutions based on the origin of the antimicrobial active agents, including:
We found that plant, animal, and combination approaches to preservation are rapidly emerging. We also found that complex bacteria cultures and extract applications are evolving and ripe for investment. We identified a range of companies with varying solutions and partnership capabilities for natural preservation.
At the end of the project, five companies with unique technologies rose to the top for further partnership consideration by the client. In addition, we built the client robust resources to understand challenges, partners, and sources for antimicrobial peptides and live cultures and partners and sources for actives to control lactic acid bacteria, acid tolerant yeast, and C. Botulinum.
How can we collaborate with you to reformulate sustainably and avoid coming legislation and consumer pressure? Contact us today to find out.
