Bioscience company Amyris will partner with Latin American food firm Camil Alimentos to meet a growing demand for zero-calorie natural sweeteners.
The agreement, which provides exclusivity between Camil Alimentos and Amyris in Latin America, consists of the development of a zero-calorie sweetener, extracted from sugarcane.
California-headquartered Amyris said the partnership will begin in Brazil, which will be the first market to receive the innovation.
Amyris drew attention to Camil Alimentos’s “broad market reach” with “300,000 points of sale including retail, cafes and restaurants”. The Brazil-headquartered firm also owns the União sugar brand.
Luciano Quartiero, Camil Alimentos CEO, said: “We are always attentive to the demands of the consumers and with the União brand, the most remembered by the Brazilian consumers, we are able to innovate and surprise once more.
“The partnership makes perfect sense both for Camil Alimentos’s business strategy and for the expansion strategy of the sweetened category.”
John Melo, president and CEO of Amyris, added: “We are thrilled to partner with such a world-class consumer products company as Camil. And, as it is with all of our partners, Camil can count on us to deliver a reliable supply of sugarcane-derived, zero-calorie sweetener that has the leading taste profile, and is lower in cost than competitors. We call this ‘no compromise’ and it’s essentially a certificate of trust that we stand by.”
He added: “We are very pleased to announce our partnership and we expect to quickly become the leader in providing Brazilian consumers with the best-tasting, zero-calorie sweetener with none of the bad effects of synthetic or other natural sweeteners that leave a lingering bitter aftertaste.”
Last year, DSM invested $25 million in Amyris to establish a long-term partnership on vitamins and other nutritional ingredients.
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