Marrone Bio Innovations and DSM Food Specialties signed a collaborative agreement involving early stage research of several biological active ingredients, according to the announcement made on June 3.

The agreement’s goal is to unlock the full potential of biologically active ingredients, to improve the critical end points of the food supply chain — crop production and food safety. MBI and DSM will exchange microorganisms from their libraries in order for their respective research teams to screen for biological activity in their specific areas of interest.

For DSM, its area of interest is applications for its food ingredients business and for MBI, its interest is in crop protection and plant health areas.

 “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,” according to Dr. Alison Stewart, MBI Sr. VP of Research & Development and CTO.

“Conversely, MBI has an industry-leading screening and development process to identify and commercialise candidates for crop protection and plant health applications. I believe we can expect viable development candidates to emerge from our collective research,” MBI’s representative added.

Ruth Donners, innovation manager, Food and Crop Protection for DSM, commented on the agreement, “This 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. Each of our teams conducting the research in which they specialise will give us the best opportunity for success.” 

Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. is a global provider of bio-based pest management and plant health products and DSM Food Specialties B.V. (DSM) is a Netherlands-based manufacturer of specialty ingredients for international food and beverage industries.