OKTOBER 2017 – The official development of the Essentials™ fruit juice was signed at the Elite sports restaurant of Papendal on September 18th. Directors Jochem Schellens (Sportcentrum Papendal) and Erwin Houtzager (Phycom) signed a cooperation agreement.
Essentials™ fruit juice is a series of three chilled vegetable-fruit algae juices, each with a different nutritional focus. The fruit juices were developed by Sportcentrum Papendal, within the activities of Eat2Move, the innovation hub for nutrition and exercise. They were assessed and tested in the Elite sports restaurant for taste, texture and function. The common denominator is that the recipes all contain algae.
This fruit juice is an example of the use of algae as an ingredient in foodstuffs, which stimulates the development of algae-containing products. It helps to make the use of algae transparent, accepted by a large audience. The parties look forward to further developing these juices on a commercial scale. In addition, research will continue to be conducted in relation to the nutritional aspects of algae.
The algae are grown in Nijkerk by Phycom, specialist in large-scale production of food-safe, high-quality microalgae as food for humans and animals. “To increase the acceptance of algae as a food ingredient, we must stimulate the industry with innovative developments. With this fruit juice under our Essentials™ brand, we give algae a face of their own and the microalgae get the stage it deserves”, says Houtzager founder and director of Phycom.
Director Schellens; “We are constantly looking for new innovations when it comes to healthy and functional food for our top athletes, but also for society. The use of algae with valuable nutrients is an example of this. We look forward to introducing algae to a broader target group.”
