Naturally fresh drinks
But high temperatures can also cause invisible risks in beverages. Microorganisms such as yeasts, molds or bacteria can spoil beverages. At best, this leads to a bad taste; at worst, to health problems. It is therefore impossible to imagine beverages without preservatives. They ensure that our non-alcoholic thirst quenchers do not spoil and continue to taste good, even at high temperatures and during long storage periods.
"Natural Guardian"
With our "natural guardian" Nagardo®, we ensure fresh taste in beverages. Nagardo® is an innovative natural preservative. It is the first new preservative approved in the EU for use in non-alcoholic beverages for more than 40 years. Nagardo® is extracted from the culture of an edible mushroom by fermentation.
Nature as a model
The most amazing things can be learned and harnessed from nature. Fungi in particular have perfected techniques to protect themselves from enemies such as certain microorganisms. Nagardo®, for example, requires only a dosage up to 50 times lower than commonly used chemical persistent preservatives. But Nagardo® brings other advantages as well. Microorganisms are able to adapt to new conditions. For example, some of the microorganisms have adapted to conventionally used preservatives over time and became resistant.
This has disadvantages for beverage producers and also for consumers. In some cases, increased addition of the conventional preservative is enough to get the microbial load under control. In other cases, alternative preservation methods, usually requiring a lot of energy, such as hot filling, must be chosen. For both cases, our Nagardo® comes just in time. On the one side, it is highly effective against already adapted microorganisms, and on the other, it works efficiently against heat-resistant germs.
EU approval received
With the new EU approval in hand, we will be presenting Nagardo® to the European beverage industry for the first time at drinktec, the world's leading trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry, in Munich from September 12 to 16, 2022.
LANXESS"EU approval allows us to continue expanding the global footprint of Nagardo®. The preservative is already in use in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. We’re going to be launching in other markets as well. We are now proud to present our natural guardian in our home market, too.”
The EU approval is considered as the gold standard due to its thorough evaluation process. With this registration, European beverage producers can now make use a long-awaited natural preservative that not only reliably protects product quality with high efficiency. It also enables manufacturers to transform their portfolio and meet consumer demands for natural ingredients.
As an added bonus, using Nagardo® can also help meet a company's sustainability goals by reducing energy consumption when switching from hot fill or tunnel pasteurization to cold fill with Nagardo, or by reducing the amount of PET needed for beverage packaging.
It will take some time before Nagardo® also appears on the label of beverage bottles in the EU. We expect it to be used in appropriate beverages end of this year. If you read "glycolipids" under ingredients within the EU, you know our Nagardo is included. In non-EU countries, the designation can differ. Because the designation of the respective ingredients is up to the countries.
Possible uses of Nagardo
Nagardo can be used in all non-alcoholic beverages, such as
- Carbonated and still soft drinks
- Isotonic sports drinks
- Ready to drink teas
- Juice based drinks
- Kombucha drinks
The condition for an effective preservation is a tailor-made dosage. This means that the dosage is determined individually for each beverage to ensure the optimum balance between effectiveness and economy. In this process, our application engineers support customers in the beverage industry.
