Brightseed (San Francisco, CA) and Olam Food Ingredients (OFI; Chicago, IL) have announced a partnership to explore the health benefits of black pepper and garlic. While research has shown bioactives in these popular spices, not all of the active compounds have been discovered. Through the partnership, Brightseed and OFI hope to determine which varieties of garlic and black pepper provide the highest levels of bioactives. OFI’s innovation team working at its ingredient centers of excellence in Fresno, CA and Vietnam also hopes to discover what health benefits exist in its varieties of American garlic and global black pepper.
Brightseed will use its Forager artificial intelligence platform to identify complex molecular structures and novel compounds in the spice categories, then identify specific mechanisms for plant bioactives that are likely to correlate with a direct health benefit. Forager will also analyze and identify how different regions, cultivars, growing conditions, and processing methods impact phytochemical expression and bioactive potency in multiple areas of human health for OFI’s US black pepper and garlic sources. . Forager’s discoveries will then be submitted in vitro validation to allow a clinical trial process without risk for innovation.
“Throughout OFI’s history, we have invested in plant science, identifying and developing quality black pepper and garlic varieties for our customers,” said Greg Estep, OFI’s CEO and CEO of Spice business. , in a press release. valued for taste, but should also be explored for health applications. This data insights will help us unlock the potential for health and differentiation in our spice supply and will foster future innovation. OFI continues to invest in its broad portfolio of products through our customer solutions and ingredient centers of excellence. . “
“We are delighted to be working with OFI to bring consumer health conversations back to nature,” said Sofia Elizondo, co-founder and COO of Brightseed. “OFI has a strong black pepper footprint that gives Forager access to a range of cultivars with a view to developing a robust comparative model of potency and bioactive density. Brightseed seeks to build the data and validation that the food and health industries need to establish a foundation on the true value of plants for optimizing human health. ”
