New Trends in Spirulina Applications: From Natural Blue Pigment to Multifunctional Nutritional Ingredients

Israeli startup Gavan hopes to explore the plant kingdom in search of new sustainable and healthy ingredients, making full use of every part of nutrient-dense materials. Its first collaborative ingredient is the microalgae spirulina, for very unique reasons.

"We can see the separation and extraction process with the naked eye because the protein is blue," said Itai Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Gavan.

The striking blue pigment of the microalgae not only helped Gavan find a way to completely separate spirulina protein, but also drove the launch of the company's first practical product: a stable natural blue coloring suitable for both hot and cold beverages. Gavan is in talks with several manufacturers to test the coloring in potential products. Cohen hopes the company can begin commercial-scale production in the first quarter of 2023.

As consumer interest in sustainability, superfoods, and natural food and beverages grows, spirulina is becoming increasingly popular as an ingredient. Several new and established companies are investing significant R&D resources to elevate its status as a sought-after ingredient.

Leonard Lerer, founder and chief scientific officer of Back of the Yards Algae Sciences, calls the company an industrial food tech enterprise. Founded in 2018, Back of the Yards focuses on researching ways to use spirulina as an ingredient in food and beverages. Lerer has previously said he founded Back of the Yards Algae Sciences with the initial goal of making natural blue food coloring based on spirulina. But he notes that this is not the company's only goal. After all, spirulina's value goes far beyond color—industry insiders say its nutritional and sustainability benefits are equally desirable.

Because artificial colors are cheap and deeply entrenched, Lerer says making natural blue from spirulina and beating artificial colors on cost is a formidable challenge.

"The only thing we can do is completely turn the tables, making natural colors a byproduct of alternative protein production," Lerer said. "And to do that, you first need alternative proteins that can be incorporated into food."

Companies like Back of the Yards and Gavan are working to reverse this situation, proving that spirulina is more than just a source of natural blue coloring. They say this microalgae is exactly the health-focused ingredient consumers are looking for now.

What is spirulina?

The blue-green microalgae known as spirulina is found almost worldwide. It grows in a variety of natural environments, relies on sunlight and carbon dioxide, and is used as a food source globally.

While most algae have nutritional value, spirulina's health properties are particularly notable. It is rich in protein—Gavan's Cohen says about 75% of spirulina's mass is protein. It also contains a range of vitamins and minerals and has been linked to enhanced immunity, allergy relief, and heart health. Its properties make it an ingredient favored by both manufacturers and consumers.

"It's a well-known antioxidant, known as a very healthy algae," Cohen said. "People are always looking for such ingredients, and when you add spirulina to your ingredient list, it's always positive for the end consumer."

Despite spirulina being healthy and easy to produce, Lerer says no one is going to switch entirely to a spirulina diet.

"Algae is especially hard to eat, right?" Lerer said. "So you can't say, 'Hey, I'm going to make a burger out of algae,' because that's impossible. It tastes too bad. But it's extremely healthy, contains all the micronutrients you need, and is better than meat."

This is exactly where many startups focused on spirulina come in. Jonas Guenther, co-founder of We Are The New Farmers, noticed that the main form of spirulina on the U.S. market—dried powder—has seen no innovation for decades and carries an unpleasant bitter and fishy taste. However, he noticed that people in other countries don't dry the algae before consuming it. Guenther says spirulina is often eaten fresh in Indonesia and Africa. After further research, he realized that the spray-drying process commonly used in the U.S. not only destroys some nutrients but also leaves behind undesirable flavors and odors.

We Are The New Farmers grows fresh spirulina in Brooklyn, New York, and sells it to consumers in frozen blocks for their own use. Guenther says this form is completely different from the powdered supplements consumers are used to.

"It looks like hummus, dark green hummus," Guenther said. "The taste is mild. I like to compare it to mineral water. It's high in minerals, with a slight salty and mineral taste, but fairly neutral. Because it's a paste, it's more like an ingredient you can use in the kitchen."

Packed with nutrition

Using fresh spirulina is not the only way to reduce bitterness. Companies including Dutch firm Ful Foods have found processing methods that minimize off-flavors while retaining nutrition.

Ful produces bright blue healthy sodas with spirulina as a core ingredient. Co-founder Cristina Prat says the company processes spirulina so that its naturally high nutritional levels can be absorbed by the body, which is not always the case in its natural form. The antioxidants in spirulina are also not always stable, so the company's process preserves the nutrients, making them usable at any temperature or pH. Meanwhile, the unpleasant salty and bitter tastes are also processed away, leaving a more pleasant flavor.

After a pilot launch in the Netherlands, the brand will begin a larger European rollout this month and plans its U.S. debut later this year.

Ful Foods was founded by Prat, Julia Streuli, and Sara Guaglio. They met at INSEAD business school, where they collaborated on research into ways for companies to achieve net-zero emissions. Streuli says they were interested in innovation in the food space and alternative proteins, and were surprised by the many benefits of microalgae for human health and sustainability.

They studied why people don't commonly consume spirulina. Streuli says the algae's bitterness is the biggest barrier to acceptance, but blue instability and solubility issues are also significant reasons for its lack of widespread use. Additionally, the ingredient has had almost no marketing push, which Streuli believes is quite critical. After all, many consumers today are looking for sustainable, natural, and nutritious ingredients like spirulina.

"The more we learned, the more we believed there was an incredible triple bottom line opportunity here—good for human health, good for planetary health, and creating a huge market opportunity," Streuli said.

The three founders developed their business plan during their MBA studies and entered INSEAD's entrepreneurship competition, which they won. Streuli says the prize money allowed them to quit their post-graduation corporate jobs and devote themselves fully to Ful. They founded the company in the Netherlands to be close to Wageningen University's renowned food science program and collaborated with faculty in the Department of Food Quality and Design to extract the ingredients used in the spirulina soda.

Prat says Ful's white peach, lime mint, and lemon ginger sodas are each made with about 20% of the company's proprietary extracted spirulina ingredient, which contains 2% to 5% spirulina biomass.

Prat says Ful focuses on spirulina because the microalgae has been extensively studied and approved as an ingredient by food safety regulators in many countries. It is also easy to grow. Streuli says spirulina can absorb up to twice its own weight in carbon dioxide, so Ful designed its growth process to use some CO2 from industrial waste streams. But Prat says their spirulina grows in a fully closed system, ensuring high-quality ingredients and high yields.

Streuli says Ful's target customers are young, urban, active, health-conscious consumers who are interested in health and sustainability but not necessarily willing to change their lifestyles.

So far, Streuli says consumers are most drawn to the bright blue color, which makes the soda highly shareable on social media. But after tasting, the main reaction is that it's a very refreshing drink. Health and sustainability matter, but they're not the primary consideration for consumers.

"One of our early arguments was that if we wanted to have a significant impact, we had to enter a large market and attract a large number of consumers in that market, which means we couldn't compromise on taste," Streuli said.

Guaglio says they are currently focused on the full launch of the soda, but Ful has bigger plans to expand beyond beverages. She says several products are in development, and the company also hopes to trademark its spirulina ingredient for use by others.

"Scaling up future nutrition is our North Star," Streuli added.

Color and more

For Gavan, spirulina's vibrant natural blue made it easier for the startup to validate its concept. But Cohen says that after removing the color, Gavan can also use spirulina to create umami-rich flavor enhancers. The remaining biomass can be made into a brown coloring to replace caramel color.

Cohen says Gavan has also developed a processing method that removes the bitterness from the algae ingredient.

The company's coloring represents a breakthrough in spirulina's blue pigment. In its natural state, the microalgae's blue is difficult to maintain in food and beverage applications, with temperature and pH variations posing problems. Cohen says Gavan's technology extracts the proteins that make up the blue pigment while maintaining their size. The company then applies proprietary treatment to make the proteins resistant to high temperatures and low pH, making them suitable for any beverage application.

"The first reaction of people who receive this color is 'Wow, it's so unique, nothing like this on the market yet,'" Cohen said. "It opens their minds to considering replacing many of the synthetic blues on the market."

Given its current small scale, Gavan is first focusing on commercializing spirulina's blue and brown colorings. Cohen says potential customers are more interested in the colorings than the flavor enhancer.

However, Gavan's colorings are more than just color. Cohen says the company's three spirulina products—blue coloring, umami enhancer, and brown coloring—all contain high levels of nutritional protein. The umami enhancer is also rich in antioxidants.

Back of the Yards is also placing more emphasis on nutrition, even though the company's LinkedIn page is filled with photos of blue desserts, baked goods, and beverages. Lerer says making nutritious, tasty, and affordable ingredients from spirulina will help the company truly make an impact.

One focus for Back of the Yards is getting more spirulina into plant-based meats. The company has patented a spirulina-derived heme ingredient, which Lerer says comes from algae and can add depth and umami to plant-based meats. He says it's not a "bloody" taste, which is characteristic of heme ingredients from other plant sources. Back of the Yards' algae heme is non-GMO and not produced through fermentation.

Back of the Yards is also working to remove spirulina's bitterness and has seen initial success. Lerer says the company is gradually increasing the proportion of spirulina in plant-based burgers—which can lower ingredient costs and boost nutritional value. Lerer believes the company will launch a plant-based burger formula containing 25% spirulina by this fall and says it is "very close" to achieving even more breakthroughs through innovative technology.

But will consumers be willing to eat spirulina burgers, even if they don't taste bad? Or any product made with microalgae? We Are The New Farmers' Guenther says he is optimistic.

"I often say that 100 years ago, no one wanted to eat shrimp, and today shrimp is the most popular seafood," he said. "Our diets are constantly evolving, and microalgae is not entirely foreign or strange. ... These foods have a long cultural history; it's just that we're rediscovering them now."