With the outbreak of COVID-19, the world’s food industry has come under pressure as consumers stockpile food around the globe and the industry works to meet this demand safely. Research conducted by Kerry confirmed there is a strong consumer desire for the removal of artificial ingredients in food and beverages. The market for consumer-friendly shelf-life solutions is estimated at more than US$1 billion globally, and it is growing at twice the pace of the artificial preservatives market. This high demand can create significant challenges for food safety and further increase food waste.

Kerry is a leader in natural food protection technologies that extend shelf life, inhibit pathogen growth and spoilage organisms, and shield taste degradation while delivering on nutritious and enjoyable products with clean labels. IsoAge Technologies is a supplier of functional ingredients to the food industry and provides multifunctional ingredient systems to optimize product and process performance, consistency and profitability. The company creates food safety and flavor enhancement systems with a consumer-friendly label declaration, using kitchen pantry ingredients as the foundation of many of their technologies. Biosecur Lab Inc. is a supplier of citrus-based functional ingredients for food, beverage, personal care, oral care and industrial products. The company’s patented technologies are focused on citrus extracts that are rich in bioflavonoids and polyphenols. The portfolio includes a range of FDA GRAS status citrus extracts and natural citrus-based flavors.

 “These acquisitions and expansion of our food protection portfolio solidifies Kerry’s position as a leader in clean label food protection,” said Neil Cracknell, CEO of Applied Health & Nutrition at Kerry. “Our authentic portfolio of natural solutions helps customers achieve consumer-appealing labels and extend shelf life safely, while at the same time maintaining great taste and texture.”

Further, Cracknell said the combination of IsoAge Technologies’ natural and sustainable food safety solutions with Biosecur Lab’s natural citrus extract-based antimicrobials and Kerry’s existing food protection solutions will allow for more food to be protected naturally.