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- 02/16/2022

IFF: GENENCARE® OSMS Achieves World’s First Certification for Upcycled Products and Ingredients

HPC Today

IFF’s Health & Biosciences division is pleased to announce the three ingredients in their GENENCARE® OSMS personal care bioactives range have achieved certification through the Upcycled Food Association’s (UFA) Upcycled Certified™ Program.

An associate member of the UFA since 2019, IFF is one of the first ingredient suppliers to receive the upcycled certification in the cosmetic active category. The certified ingredients in GENENCARE® OSMS range include GENENCARE® OSMS BA, GENENCARE® OSMS MI and GENENCARE® OSMS CC.

Launched in 2021, the UFA’s Upcycled Certification Program is the world’s only third-party certification program for upcycled food ingredients and products. This certification serves to legitimize food waste as a reputable and reliable source for beauty ingredients and ensure that such products are manufactured to the highest standards. It also helps consumers to identify products that include upcycled ingredients in the formulation, while providing a quality standard.

Upcycled foods use ingredients that would not have otherwise been consumed. They are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains and have a positive impact on the environment. The GENENCARE® OSMS bioactives range is obtained from the by-product of sugar beet processing known as sugar beet molasses. With IFF’s advanced technology, sugar mills can now extract more sugar from the de-sugarization process, and betaine molasses can be processed into GENENCARE® OSMS ingredients in the form of highly purified crystalline powders.

“Today’s consumers expect more of the brands they use to support local social and environmental issues. The GENENCARE® OSMS portfolio is about re-imagining how we can turn food waste into value-added, innovative solutions for our customers and the industry,” said Johan Jansén-Storbacka, director, Personal Care, Health & Biosciences.

For many consumers, sustainability remains a key influencing factor when it comes to purchasing personal care and cosmetic products. Recent studies by Mintel show that 40 percent of consumers would trade up to more environmentally friendly beauty products and 47 percent of consumers agree that beauty products with ethical certification are more trustworthy than those without1.

“This certification is a testament of our commitment to address the global challenge of waste through upcycling, and to address consumer needs for sustainable and advanced, efficacious ingredients,” added Johan.

IFF’s vice president of Global Sustainability & EHS, Kip Cleverley explains, “Upcycled Certified™ is a big step towards a circular economy. At IFF, we have embedded our commitment to circular design across our business as a guiding principle toward creating scalable, sustainable, and close-looped systems in which materials are constantly reused and waste becomes a resource”.

The GENENCARE® OSMS range of ingredients consists of natural osmolytes, namely betaine and inositol, sustainably sourced from sugar beets and upcycled from the sugar production side stream. Benefits of GENENCARE® OSMS range include skin moisturization and barrier strengthening to skin elasticity improvement.

https://www.iff.com/responsibilities/sustainable-innovation/upcycling