Lycored is a global leader in all-natural, lycopene-based colour and taste-enhancing ingredients for plant-based and clean-label foods, beverages and supplements.
Our core mission is to cultivate wellness in all areas of a consumer’s lifestyle. We are committed to taking high-performing ingredients from nature and improving their impact to provide clean and natural products to the food and beverage industry.
Natural colours for food and beverage industry
Lycored’s all-natural colours are derived from the company’s purpose-bred tomatoes, as well as its own strain of Blakeslea Trispora fungus.
Lycored takes the time to fully understand the range performance in application and each colour is tested for stability across multiple applications, including flavoured waters, ultra-high temperature processing (UHT)-treated dairy drinks, juice-based beverages, confectionery (hard-coated and fortified gummies), as well as fruit preparations for yoghurts and plant-based meat alternatives.
Hues for food and drinks industry
Every hue in Lycored’s colour cast has a memorable stage name to better reflect the vibrancy of its performance and stability in popular foods and drinks. Evoking visions of colour and taste, food developers can choose from our top performers, including SteadfastScarlet, ConstantCrimson, OrangeOvation, GoldHold and StellarYellow.
Lycored colours are taste and pH-neutral and demonstrate robust stability under a wide range of ultraviolet (UV) and high-temperature storage and lighting conditions. Every hue is fully traceable, backwards-integrated, non-genetically modified organism (GMO) and allergen-free, Kosher and Halal, offering ample opportunities across vegan and clean labels.
Lycopene-based colours for food and drinks applications
Recent plant-based meat, dairy and beverage studies have proven that lycopene-based colours remain truer and more colour-stable in the process than other popular all-natural colour ingredient alternatives.
Focusing on plant-based deli ham slices and sausage-style encased meats, Lycored’s scientists compared them to the two most popular all-natural colour alternatives: beet and iron oxide.
Results revealed that Lycored’s lycopene-based colours are ready for the rigours of plant-based food processing, as well as meeting consumer demand for an authentic look and taste. Lycored’s studies revealed that, for both ham slices and sausages, Lycored’s lycopene outperformed beets and iron oxide relative to process stability and authentic, appetising hues.
ConstantCrimson A and ResoluteRuby A were shown to perform exceptionally well in milk drinks after being subjected to four different UHT processes and harsh accelerated shelf-life studies, without impacting colour or affecting the flavour.
Lycored’s colours also delivered an optimal performance in sparkling water, containing strawberry-flavoured syrup. While a typical shelf life in this category is six to nine months, lycopene colours demonstrated stability over a 12-month period while proving resistant to fading, ringing and sedimentation.
High-performance, all-natural umami flavour
Lycoreds tomato-focused science also provides the basis for all-natural SANTE, the company’s proven umami taste enhancer. SANTE provides a high concentration of natural compounds for a more natural taste and a cleaner label formulation, thanks to reduced levels of ingredients such as salt, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and yeast.
Lycored’s analysis showed the all-natural tomato-based alternative to sodium additives offers significant levels of sugar and salt reduction, above 40% in many cases, and in some cases as much as a 100% reduction in added salt or sugar. SANTE provides the optimal foundation for building great taste into soups, sauces, condiments and prepared foods of all kinds.
About Lycored
Committed to cultivating wellness, Lycored is an international company at the forefront of unearthing and combining nature’s nutrition potential with cutting-edge science to develop natural ingredients and products.
Established in 1995 in Israel, Lycored is a global leader in natural carotenoids for food, beverage and dietary supplement products.