More Than A Color Colorant from unique purple corn was just the beginning

AURI - July/September Newsletter

> Listen to a radio segment about Suntava

Bill Petrich says he didn’t know for sure how expansive the business could be when he became CEO of Suntava in 2007. Petrich was hired to build a fledgling business marketing products from a variety of purple corn the company’s founders had developed.

Initial efforts focused on a natural red colorant extracted from the corn. But the business has become so much more than just a pretty color.

“This has gone in more directions than I could have ever imagined,” Petrich admits.

Suntava still supports the Sayela™ colorants as a natural alternative to the petroleum based Red Dye 40 for the food and beverage industry, but it wasn’t long into the company’s existence that Petrich began paying greater attention to possible uses for the grain. Even though their proprietary process extracts purple color from the corn grain, there was plenty of vivid purple still in the meal. But color wasn’t the only thing left in the corn.

A healthy option

Suntava colorants and whole grains are rich in anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant. In fact, ounce for ounce, Suntava Purple Corn has double the antioxidant level of blueberries. The health benefits, combined with the unique color and versatility of the grain have opened numerous exciting opportunities for cereals, sweet and salty snack foods, craft brewing and even spirits.

Suntava Purple Corn is already used to make corn chips, tortillas, masa flour and more. In recent months, new partnerships have been formed, taking Suntava’s unique purple ingredients to new markets.

In January, Cascadian Farm launched a Berry Vanilla Puffs cereal nationally. Cascadian Farm is a General Mills company that produces organic and non-GMO snack and cereal products. The purple berries in the cereal are made from Suntava Purple Corn because no artificial coloring is needed.

Suntava has formed a partnership with Stiebs and Smith Frozen Foods, two west coast companies who will produce and market individually quick frozen (IQF) kernels, freeze dried kernels, powder and purees. Stiebs is a California-based supplier of juices, concentrates, purees and nutraceuticals. This partnership opens the door for Suntava ingredients to be used in foods like salsa, frozen vegetable mixes, healthy snacks, purees and soup.

Briess Malt and Ingredients Company of Wisconsin is working with Suntava to produce, market and distribute purple corn nectar. Briess is North America’s leading producer of specialty malts and value added ingredients for the brewing, distilling, food and pet food industries. This partnership opens yet another door into the craft brew industry, health bar and natural sweetener markets.

For companies striving to market healthy, natural products with flair, Suntava ingredients are a perfect fit.

“In general, we’ve had a warm reception,” Petrich says. “It’s taken time to get there, but companies are beginning to realize the benefits.”

A story to tell [RHP_5172]

Petrich says companies like both Suntava Purple Corn’s color and nutritional benefits. Test results have shown that snacks, cereals, crackers and baked goods made with their corn provide from 18-35 milligrams of anthocyanins per one ounce serving, whereas studies have shown that the average American consumer gets about 12.5 milligrams per day.

Beyond the nutrition and the color, many companies and consumers are attracted to Suntava’s story. The purple corn is a non-GMO variety, developed by Lee and Joann French of Lamberton, Minnesota. After years of traditional breeding using strains derived from ancient red maize, the Frenches developed the corn that is distinctively purple from root to tassel. The variety is now grown on thousands of acres in southwestern Minnesota as well as other parts of the country.

“The footprint of where we are growing the corn continues to expand,” Petrich says. “The corn is a very scalable and mobile product that can be grown in multiple regions.”

“We’ve got complete control of the seed from the breeding practices all the way up to the production, so our customers can be assured of a high quality, consistent product each and every time they receive product from Suntava,” says Joel Bodin, Suntava vice president of business development.

The Frenches began working with AURI back in 2002, looking for help identifying potential commercial uses for the purple corn they’d developed. Other projects, including technical, laboratory and cost-share assistance occurred along the way, which Petrich credits for helping grow the business to where it is today.

“What we learned from our early work with AURI has allowed us to do the business development we otherwise couldn’t have done,” Petrich says. “It’s very, very helpful to know that we have them behind us.”

[RHP_5221] “It’s very rewarding to see a project progress and grow and to know that we’ve been a part of that,” says Michael Sparby, senior project strategist for AURI. “Suntava is a classic example of someone taking an idea and making it a commercial reality. They have been able to truly develop their own product, and identify and carve out their own markets.”    Click here to read the full article and view the photos and video!