Jungbunzlauer is collaborating with the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien), Austria, to support research into optimizing citric acid production. Citric acid is a “versatile bio-ingredient” used in F&B products and the move is expected to offer significant improvements in its yield and sustainability.

The collaboration will involve work focused on selecing and enriching fungal strains that naturally evolve toward greater efficiency under controlled laboratory conditions at the university’s newly-opened Christian Doppler (CD) Laboratory.

Although citric acid naturally exists in fruits and vegetables, the ingredient used in the industry as a food additive is not natural citric acid, according to scientists. It is manufactured through fermentation using the fungus Aspergillus niger.

“The process of converting sugars into citric acid is biologically complex and involves specific genetic and biochemical pathways in the fungus,” explains Professor Matthias Steiger, head of the CD Laboratory.

“Our goal is to gain a detailed understanding of these processes to enrich naturally efficient fungal strains, maintaining high production standards for the food sector.”

Optimizing fungal strains

The CD Laboratory uses advanced molecular analysis and selection techniques to identify key genetic factors and environmental conditions that optimize the fungus’s ability to produce citric acid, notes the sustainable ingredient manufacturer.

Meanwhile, the researchers are working to measure the spatial distribution of mRNA relevant to citric acid production, by further refining the strain selection process using novel methods for in vivo mRNA measurement. These methods are expected to refine the strain selection process further.

The Austrian government and industry partners support the CD laboratories, which work closely with universities such as TU Wien, to conduct high-level research addressing pressing challenges across fields.

Sustainability efforts

Jungbunzlauer is headquartered in basel, Switzerland and has large-scale fermentation operations across Europe and North America that formulate high-quality, sustainable ingredients from natural sources.

According to the company, the collaboration with TU Wien and the CD Laboratory “exemplifies the power of industry-academic partnerships in addressing global sustainability challenges.”

“The results of this research will not only boost the efficiency of citric acid production but also provide a scalable model for the sustainable bioproduction of other important compounds.”

In other company updates, Jungbunzlauer discussed using xanthan gum to mimic some of the properties of gluten in gluten-free pasta in a webinar with Food Ingredients First last month. 

In September, the Swiss ingredient producer invested US$200 million in a “first-of-its-kind” facility in Canada for xanthan gum.