BOSTON — Phytolon and Ginkgo Bioworks, which began working together in 2022, are continuing their partnership to develop yeast strains to produce two colors perceived as natural for the food industry.
The companies have completed the second development milestone and produced “beetroot red” and “prickly pear yellow.” The colors are expected to be available in the US market upon approval by the Food and Drug Administration, according to the company.
“The vibrant colors Phytolon is now poised to deliver to customers will allow the food industry to explore the full potential of natural and healthy beet and prickly pear pigments that have never before been readily available with such purity and quality,” said Wissam Mansour, chief product officer at Phytolon.
In January 2024, the companies completed the first development milestone of their collaboration to produce food colors. The first development was aimed at producing vibrant betalain pigments spanning the yellow-to-purple spectrum using cell engineering. Betalin pigments, Phytolon said, are found in beets and cactus fruit.
The companies used Ginkgo’s artificial intelligence (AI) modeling service and “high-throughput screening platform” to produce strains with nearly “three times higher production efficiency.”
The platform enabled Phytolon to produce ingredients for food manufacturers in baked foods, snacks seasoning, toppings and icings, confectioneries, dairy yogurts, ice creams and frozen novelties, according to the companies.
“It has been a pleasure to work alongside our partners at Phytolon to help bring their colorful products to market,” said Jennifer Wipf, general manager of discovery and manufacturing solutions at Ginkgo Bioworks. “We tapped many of Ginkgo’s cell programming capabilities to deliver ‘beetroot red’ and ‘prickly pear yellow’ production strains and processes that make possible an entire palette of food colors. We look forward to continuing to work with Phytolon as they innovate in this market.”
Phytolon has received multiple investments from venture capital firms to scale its fermentation-based food colors.
The company secured $14.5 million in fundingled by DSM Ventures in July 2022. In November 2024, Phytolon received an investment from Rich Product Ventures (RPV), the corporate venture capital fund of Rich Products.Enjoying this content? Learn about more disruptive startups on the Food Entrepreneur page.
