The production of aromatic compounds traditionally relies on their extraction from plant raw material. However, the concentration of the desired compounds in plants are normally very low, in the range of milligrams per Kg of fresh plant material. The production of raw material therefore requires a substantial input of resources like arable land, water, agrochemicals, transport, processing, etc.

Lantana aims to replace those production methods with a fermentation-based approach, similar to brewing beer. Our technology platform allows yeast cultures to produce natural anthocyanins at levels which are generally 100-1000 times more concentrated than what is found in plants. Besides the potential economic benefits, this process has the advantage of being much more sustainable, with greatly reduced environmental impact.

Yeast was domesticated by humans long ago, and has been used for centuries for fermentation of fruits and vegetables, making beer and wine, and more recently for making bread. In many such cases, even today, the yeast cells are left in the resulting products and, hence, consumed together with the fermented foods or beverages. This is one of the reasons why baker’s yeast, also known by its latin name Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has obtained GRAS status, meaning Generally Regarded As Safe. Nonetheless, the process applied by Lantana removes any trace of yeast during purification and the final product is, thus, considered as a natural ingredient.