Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) and DSM Food Specialties have signed an agreement involving the early stage research of several biological active ingredients with the aim of improving crop production and food safety within the supply chain.
The collaborative research project will see MBI and DSM exchange microorganisms from their libraries in order for their respective research teams to screen for biological activity in their specific areas of interest. DSM’s interest lies within applications for its food ingredients business, and MBI’s interest is centres around crop protection and plant health.
Dr. Alison Stewart, MBI Sr. VP of Research & Development and Chief Technology Officer, said that the agreement plays to both MBI’s and DSM’s strengths, and will provide a host of benefits for each business.
“This agreement takes advantage of each company’s strength in its core competencies. DSM Food Specialties is a world leader in fermentation and enzyme technology and is the ideal partner for exploring new applications of microbial strains for food safety and other food ingredient applications,” says Stewart.
“Conversely, MBI has an industry-leading screening and development process to identify and commercialize candidates for crop protection and plant health applications. I believe we can expect viable development candidates to emerge from our collective research.”
Ruth Donners, Innovation Manager, Food and Crop Protection for DSM, said that the agreement is a great example of how new advances in research can be maximized through collaboration.
“Both DSM and MBI have focused sets of skills that will be utilized in finding new applications for active ingredients the companies may not have accessed otherwise,” says Donners. “Each of our teams conducting the research in which they specialize will give us the best opportunity for success.”