Newsletter 10/2009
Lapland berries bring wellbeing
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Thanks to its northern location Aromtech Ltd has a close relationship with the natural surroundings of the Arctic. As a result of long-term development work, the company has created a group of products that are used in functional foods and cosmetics.
“The products are used in foods such as juices, yogurts, sausages, breads and cookie snacks. The main use, however, is in nutritional supplements in which the oils are enclosed in capsules so that they can be used easily,” says managing director Vesa-Pekka Judin.
Brisk exports
The most important raw materials are the seeds of buckthorns, blackcurrants, bilberries, lingonberries, cranberries and cloudberries. The key to retaining the biological effectiveness of the products is the modern and environment-friendly supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) technology.
Aromtech Ltd produces products that contain the fatty acids necessary for the human system and respond to the growing demand for health-promoting foods.
“With this method the valuable lipoids in the raw materials are recovered in their natural and active form,” Judin emphasizes.
About 70 per cent of Aromtech’s production is exported, the main markets being in Europe but there are also exports to North America, Japan and Korea. Demand for the products has increased by about 15-20 per cent annually and it is expected to continue at the same pace.
New products on the way
Aromtech carries out research and development work in cooperation with universities, industry and research institutes. The main areas are chemical and technological research into the raw materials and clinical trials on highly processed products.
At present the company is taking part in the three-year Tekes-Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation programme called Sapuska, which is aimed at improving the competitiveness of the Finnish food industry. Aromtech’s involvement extends to a project called ‘Health Products Based on Innovative Technologies and Sustainable Utilisation of Northern Plants’.
“The aim is to develop new nutritional supplements and wellbeing products, and linked with them, innovative technologies and processes. The new products will be fatty-acid preparations and preparations based on phenolic compounds.”
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