Symrise announced its Diana Food blueberry ingredients and active compounds. Like other products from the portfolio of natural ingredients, it features various characteristics and performance benefits. They include competitiveness, various organoleptic properties, application-specific high-quality standards as for baby food, distinct certification like organic, and the option to claim health benefits, states the company.

To always meet consumers’ expectations, Symrise leverages on its worldwide network of selection, sourcing, and processing facilities. For blueberry, the company responsibly sources three different species, from three distinct geographical regions, and processes the fresh fruits at locations close to the growing sources.

Symrise processes blueberry ingredients in France, Canada, and Chile. The production preserves the fruit’s inherent beneficial properties by using different technologies: concentration, to obtain juice concentrate; spray drying and roller drying technologies, to obtain various product formats (powders, flakes, and crunchies); and extraction, to concentrate the actives compounds. 

Three blueberry species with distinct properties are:

1. Vaccinium myrtillus, also known as bilberry, grows in Eastern & Northern Europe. It has become popular for its distinctive blueberry taste and goes predominantly into sweet goods applications. Bilberry often goes into eye health products, thanks to its anthocyanins content.
2. Vaccinium angustifolium, wild blueberry (lowbush) is one of the oldest native berries in North America. It successfully grows in the harshest climatic conditions, which results in fruit with three times the phenolic compounds and twice the antioxidant power of blueberry (highbush). Wild blueberry (lowbush) stands out for varied health benefits. Findings from several clinical studies indicate that wild blueberry may provide benefits for delayed memory, mood, learning performance, and executive functions. With its range of wild blueberry (lowbush) extracts, highly concentrated in polyphenols, Symrise brings these health benefits into convenient formats for dietary supplement applications. 
3. Vaccinium corymbosum is a blueberry cultivated in Latin America. Its intense dark purple color offers an interesting visual contrast and allows fruit recognition, particularly appreciated in food applications. They taste sweet and offer low acidity. As a cultivated crop, this species offers the most cost competitive solution of the three varieties.

Manufacturers can use the solutions from the three blueberry species in many applications, from ready-to-drink drinks and smoothies to breakfast cereals, bars, dessert toppings, baby and toddler snacks, sports nutrition products, and dietary supplements, the company says. With more than twenty distinct product references, Symrise offers solutions ranging from powders over flakes to crunchies. 

“By offering a deep, broad, and highly functional blueberry portfolio we are meeting consumer wishes for nutritious and healthy food ingredients," says Nathalie Richer, global health business leader in the Naturals Business Unit of Symrise Food & Beverage. "Customers can use our comprehensive range of blueberry solutions in their applications. For example, our solutions can go into dietary supplement applications, such as tablets, gummies, capsules and powders addressing benefits like antioxidant properties, cognitive and oral health.”