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2nd Nature, developer of the AgWaste Portal intelligent upcycling platform, has launched its first portfolio of AI-discovered functional ingredients, including non-calorie natural sweeteners and non-sodium umami enhancers.
Discovered in the side streams of widely processed crops such as wheat, soy, rice, peanut and corn, the ingredients are designed to help manufacturers reformulate food and beverage products to reduce sugar and sodium while maintaining taste and functionality.
The company has filed a patent protecting the newly identified compounds, which it describes as difficult or impossible to uncover through traditional human-led screening methods.
The initial ingredient portfolio directly addresses two of the food industry’s most persistent formulation challenges: delivering sweetness without calories and enhancing savoury flavour without salt.
According to the company, the natural sweeteners replicate sugar’s sensory profile without metabolic impact, while the umami enhancers provide depth and flavour amplification without sodium.
“What makes these ingredients revolutionary isn’t just where they come from, but how they were found,” said Effendi Leonard, co-founder and CEO of 2nd Nature. “Our AgWaste Portal identified these compounds in the byproducts of crops that are already processed at massive scale."
He continued: "These are materials manufacturers typically pay to dispose of, yet they contain high-value functional ingredients that can now be produced efficiently and at low cost”.
2nd Nature discovered the ingredients using its proprietary AgWaste Portal, an AI platform that analyses the molecular composition of agricultural processing side streams.
Rather than relying on years of trial-and-error testing, the platform maps what the company describes as the 'molecular universe' of food waste, predicting functional properties of small molecules, fibres, peptides, enzymes and proteins.
This approach significantly shortens development timelines, enabling the identification of natural sweeteners and umami enhancers with targeted functional performance in a matter of months rather than years.
By sourcing ingredients from the side streams of globally abundant crops instead of exotic plants or animal-derived inputs, 2nd Nature positions its ingredients for scalable, cost-efficient production.
Major agricultural processing operations generate millions of tons of nutrient-rich byproducts annually, much of which is treated as waste.
The company’s model allows manufacturers to upcycle their own side streams into functional ingredients, effectively converting disposal costs into potential revenue while creating a shorter, more resilient supply chain.
The patent protects the newly discovered compounds across a broad field of use, including food and beverage, wellness, personal and home care and pharmaceutical formulations.
According to 2nd Nature, the patent reflects both the novelty of the compounds and the flexibility of the AgWaste Portal to identify functional ingredients from a wide range of waste streams.
As consumer demand for reduced-sugar and low-sodium products continues to grow, manufacturers face increasing pressure to reformulate without sacrificing sensory appeal. Many existing solutions rely on synthetic additives or fall short on taste.
2nd Nature positions its AI-discovered ingredients as clean label alternatives that preserve full flavour while enabling meaningful nutritional improvements.
The company believes this combination could unlock reformulation opportunities in categories where taste trade-offs have historically limited adoption.
The ingredients will be available for commercial sampling in Q2 2026.
Featured image: © 2nd Nature