The German firm is on a quest to make bovine colostrum – a extremely sought-after ingredient within the nutraceutical trade due to its immunity-boosting properties – a product that’s equally interesting to the typical shopper. Whereas there are many causes for health-conscious shoppers to be curious about colostrum, the style of the gold-colored liquid isn’t for everybody. “The issue with colostrum is that it has a very tacky, virtually whey-like style,” defined Martin Thiems, advertising and distribution supervisor for Colostrum BioTec. “My spouse for instance can’t take the liquid – she prefers capsules. However the liquid product has a special impression.”
‘Totally different’ right here means excessive concentrations of immunoglobulin G. The corporate’s liquid product model, armacura, is a 6ml every day shot with a focus of no less than 200mg immunoglobulin G in addition to lactoferrin. It has 40 instances extra immunoglobulin G than a comparable amount of breast milk and is lactose- and gluten-free. Furthermore, the 6ml shot packs greater than 400 substances which might be wealthy in amino acids, nutritional vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and pure progress elements. “However to get this 6ml bottle, it’s important to get the uncooked materials, de-fat it, de-casinate it; it’s important to work with cultures after which it’s important to charge it to be sure you haven’t impacted it not directly,” Thiems stated.
The liquid focus consists solely of bovine colostrum, which is obtained from regulated livestock in the course of the first 24 hours after calving, we had been instructed. “However the new-born calves all the time come first – we simply get the leftovers,” clarified Thiems.
“What makes colostrum so particular is that it’s not a typical uncooked materials the place you would name somebody up and order it,” he added. “It’s a must to construct up your personal provide chain. What we’ve in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic is over 1,400 farmers who provide us, although in our contracts, there are not any necessities round portions or in any other case. When the farmers are curious about delivering, they’ll ship what they’ll or if they’ll’t as a result of they want it for the calves, they’ll hold it.”
These farms vary from ‘very small to very massive japanese German farms,’ a mixture of standard and natural farm, all of which need to be German-standard high quality milk producers. “After we appeal to a brand new provider, we examine their high quality administration, perform audits, take a look at animal welfare. So we’re not simply shopping for colostrum from anybody – we’re working our personal assortment system with our personal collectors and drivers. We have now extraordinarily excessive requirements as a result of we’ve to ensure the colostrum is usable for people and for animals.”
Thiems admitted, nevertheless, that the corporate’s ‘German-produced and German-tested’ merchandise will be costly in what’s already a profitable market. “The way in which we strategy the market is with the concept to make a really protected, safe, product,” he stated. “In a world the place meals scandals can have a huge effect on producers, we’ve FSSC 22000 certification, natural certification.” FCCS is an internationally-accepted certification scheme based mostly on a mixture of ISO 22000 sector-specific prerequisite program and FSSC further necessities. “We’re additionally registered as ‘meals’ enterprise, so we are able to present merchandise that can be utilized by the entire household. Our merchandise are 100% pure and haven’t any sterilization, so we market them as pure options’.”
Requested if his firm can use any well being claims based mostly particularly on the properties of colostrum in Germany, Thiems stated there have been none but, however that the corporate is a part of ZIM, Germany’s largest innovation program for small and medium-sized enterprises, underneath which Colostrum BioTec will attempt ‘to invent a product with a view to receive a well being declare’.
‘We have now to teach the buyer’
All this R&D work comes at a value; and whereas Thiems doesn’t suppose that colostrum will go down in pricing any time quickly, this can be the correct time to clarify to shoppers why colostrum is so particular. “We have now to teach the buyer what colostrum is,” he stated. “In Europe particularly, it’s nonetheless fairly unknown. In Asia, in the meantime, it’s a special story – for those who go to China, Malaysia or Korea, folks know what colostrum is, and even have functions for infants, which for the time being remains to be unthinkable for Europe.”
Within the meantime, the corporate is specializing in making new colostrum-based merchandise – flavored colostrum and liquid lactoferrin. “We’re a pure colostrum firm, however we’re all the time taking a look at methods to broaden,” including that demand from the Asian market means there’s an incentive to shake issues up. “We promote globally; our core market is Europe, however with all of the issues we do for the time being, Asia is catching up.” For this reason the corporate is providing flavored powdered colostrum stick, with strawberry taste, as a part of its LacVital vary. “Lactoferrin, sterile and filtrated, is crimson and utterly tasteless, and we thought we needed to provide it a taste and selected strawberry,” he defined.
“We hope within the subsequent 5 years we are able to get the buyer educated and that we are able to work on the analysis aspect, too. It’s actually essential for us to focus on that these are pure substances which might be good for well being,” concluded Thiems.
