Verum Ingredients has been awarded a new and larger grant from the Small Business Innovation Research Program (Programa PIPE) by Fapesp (Research Funding Agency of Sao Paulo) in Brazil. This prestigious, highly competitive grant will enable the increase of our R&D activities in the field of upcycled prebiotic ingredients. The total financial support received from Fapesp adds up to over R$1 million (US$200,000).
Verum’s R&D program has been focusing on upcycling agricultural byproducts as sources of functional food ingredients. Upcycled food is one of the strongest market trends in the food industry, with consumers showing increasingly awareness about the importance of their grocery shopping decision to support food waste reduction.
Moreover, microbiome modulating ingredients is one of the fastest growing sales categories in the functional ingredients market. High-volume agricultural supply chains in Brazil with large availability of byproducts are targeted on our R&D work that aims to develop and optimize industrial processes for the production of upcycled prebiotic ingredients. The project is a collaboration between the company and Prof. Dr. Luiz Claudio Di Stasi of FitoFarmaTec – Laboratory of Phytomedicine, Pharmacology and Biotechnology – of Sao Paulo State University (Unesp-Botucatu).
As the R&D program advances, Verum Ingredients is now establishing manufacturing partnerships to optimize and scale up to multi-ton production of the emerging upcycled prebiotic fibers. Furthermore, the company is now pursuing IP protection and scientific substantiation of the functional claims for the newly developed ingredients.
“It is very reassuring to receive this second research grant from Fapesp, and we are confident that the funds will get us to the point where we will be able to attract commercial partners for our upcycled functional ingredients. We are very excited with our results so far and hopeful that we will gain more momentum with our expanded R&D team,” says Verum Ingredients Founder & CEO, Dr. Ricardo Dias.
