Lycored 2022: “Pushing the Boundaries of Tomato Science”

Tammi Higgins, senior vice president of Lycored Food Division, elaborates on the company’s innovative products and explains why Lycored is at the forefront of the natural colorants, taste, and texture space.

Tell us more about Lycored…

Lycored has three core areas of focus: food and beverage, beauty, and health. Within all three of these portfolios, we’re guided by one idea – our vision of cultivating wellness. Simply put, we believe everyone has the right to wellness.

Through science, we work to bring nature’s goodness in its most potent forms. For our food and beverage division, this includes superstable red, orange, gold, and yellow colorants derived from lycopene-rich tomatoes and beta-carotene from our strain of blakeslea trispora. 

As part of our zero-waste production process, we’re further able to utilize the tomato with the production of products such as our LycoFibers, which give a pleasing, vegetable pulp texture, and SANTE, an umami- and kokumi-packed tomato-derived concentrate that enhances taste and reduces the need for salt in foods.

All of our products are Kosher, Halal, non-GMO, and naturally derived.

Which products did you start with?

Lycored’s foundation was originally established within the dietary supplement industry, with clinically based performance solutions. As our company grew, we realized lycopene could solve many coloration challenges within the food and beverage space where other colorants from natural sources proved ineffective.

Always with a focus on cultivating wellness, we’ve continued to add new products while always testing our current solutions to further deepen our expertise within the food and beverage, beauty, and health industries.

What is Lycored best known for?

Within the food and beverage industry our flagship products are our superstable colors; ResoluteRuby™, ConstantCrimson™, ResilientRed™ and SteadfastScarlet™, and real food ingredients for taste and texture enhancement; SANTE and CTC (for taste), and LycoFibers (for texture).

Our color portfolio stands out among its peers for superior stability, and are formulated to be pH-, light-, and temperature-independent. These products provide food and beverage manufacturers with naturally derived solutions that can overcome traditional challenges, such as stable red shades in UHT dairy products or color fading in surimi seafood, all with label-friendly names that consumers recognize.

Our real food ingredients include products that provide umami and kokumi characteristics along with authentic tomato notes, for elevated flavor profiles that allow for salt and added sugar reductions. This portfolio also includes our LycoFibers solution – the perfect addition to soups and sauces where a pulpy texture is desired.

How have colourants evolved over the last few decades?

Consumers are more aware of the relationship between the foods they eat and their health, as well as the relationship between the foods they eat and how the production process of these foods affects the environment.

With this awareness comes a desire for cleaner, more natural products – but colors from natural sources traditionally have challenges with stability across extreme conditions.

A good example that illustrates this is plant-based meat alternatives – we’ve seen a huge push for plant-based meat solutions over the last five to 10 years. Consumers are making the switch to vegetarianism or veganism, or are flexing between animal products for a perceived health benefit as well as a social responsibility aspect.

Due to the nature of these choices, colors from natural sources are the only option. This shift has helped propel our superstable colors as we continually test our products to ensure we provide the most potent ingredients while maintaining a sustainable source.

Finally, how do you foresee the evolution of Lycored over the next few years?

As an industry leader in the natural colorants, taste, and texture space, our team is committed to the continuation of producing high-quality, clean label solutions for the food and beverage industries, while pushing the boundaries of tomato science in the area of sustainable ingredient production. 

Through our mission of cultivating wellness, we believe it’s important to harvest possibilities throughout the industry so everyone can feel good while feeding their families.