WHEN THE small start-up business IMD Natural Solutions inherited one of the largest natural product sample libraries in the world after a buyout, its scientists knew they had a treasure trove. IMD Natural Solutions, which in 2017 became part of Germany-based Lanxess, had taken over a library that contained more than 100,000 samples culled from nature over years of exploration. It consisted of natural compounds, extracts, and organism samples stored in microwell plates in deep freezers and liquid nitrogen. The researchers didn’t know at first, but the library held the key to an innovative preservative that would eventually be called Nagardo, a name meant to reflect “natural guardian.”

THE HUNT

Though the team wasn’t sure how its search would unfold, it did know what it was looking for: a potent and natural antimicrobial that could become a beverage preservative. They focused specifically on fighting yeasts. As yeasts can grow with or without oxygen, they are a problem across the beverage industry.

Using high-throughput screening to scan the library, the researchers identified 10 potential candidates. One of the most promising of those was an unusual sample: a little orange edible jelly mushroom, native to the French Guiana rain forests, known as Dacryopinax spathularia.

“There’s a lot of untapped chemical diversity also known to be present in different mushrooms and fungi,” says Jens Bitzer, senior manager of technical marketing at IMD Natural Solutions. His experience working with natural sources led Blitzer to believe that fungi contained many unexplored bioactive substances. It didn’t come as a complete surprise that the best candidate for working against yeast was a mixture of glycolipids in D. spathularia.

Bitzer and his team removed the mushroom cells by filtration and recovered the glycolipids from the filtrate using acidic precipitation. They then neutralized the pH and spray-dried the solution. Only water was used to solubilize the glycolipids, and the drying was done without excipients; that left a pure glycolipid mixture. Upon testing, the researchers found that the glycolipids functioned effectively against yeast as well as against mold and bacteria. The glycolipids destroyed the microbial membranes. As the antimicrobial glycolipids were naturally derived, they offered an ideal alternative to synthetic beverage preservatives.

NATURAL ATTRACTION

The beverage industry has seen in recent years a surge in products that are considered natural and sustainable. “Consumers are looking for simplicity and transparency in their beverages,” says Nevin Barich, a food and beverage analyst for Industry Intelligence, a market research company. “Drinks that have as few ingredients as possible are resonating more with customers who are focused on health and wellness.” This preference is based on health associations that consumers make with the “natural” label and on their growing belief that synthetic preservatives are best avoided, Barich adds.

Experts say consumers are more open than ever to trying natural products, especially if they represent an innovation. Consumers want foods and beverages “to provide a benefit that’s perceived as natural and intrinsic to the food,” says Joana Maricato, market research manager at New Nutrition Business, a consumer trends consultancy. “We’re all food explorers now. We embrace new flavors and ideas—none more so than young beverage consumers, who are open to a wealth of innovations.”

DRINK UP

Lanxess developed Nagardo as a powder that can be integrated into the beverage production process. The researchers were surprised to find that the fungal glycolipid extracts were up to 50 times as effective as synthetic preservatives at preventing the growth of yeast and mold. Nagardo is already being used in a new caffeine- and electrolyte-infused flavored water product, Kick2O, and Lanxess is in talks with other manufacturers. “It is a unique and long-awaited natural solution for the beverage market,” said Vijay Nahar, technical sales manager with Lanxess in the US. “It’s mixed into a stock solution, and that’s added to the batch tank with the rest of the ingredients.”

Because the glycolipid extract comes from an organism available in the original library, researchers knew Nagardo would be a sustainable option. The source mushroom can be regenerated with few external resources. After it is cultured, Lanxess scientists cultivate the fungus in large fermentation vessels.

That’s the thing about nature: it reproduces itself. As the natural preservatives market grows to accommodate consumers’ role as food and beverage explorers, that potential for growth will be more important than ever.