For the past 17 years, Gold Coast Ingredients, Commerce, Calif., has owned Gold Coast Flavor & Fragrance Shenzhen (GCFFSZ), a subsidiary in Shenzhen, China. GCFFSZ has manufactured and sold flavors exclusively to the Chinese market. As of May 2021, Gold Coast Ingredients made the decision to sell GCFFSZ to members of its senior management team who have been with Gold Coast since GCFFSZ’s inception, making GCFFSZ a 100% Chinese-owned company.

Rehovot, Israel-based Better Juice Ltd. announced it has raised $8 million in seed-round investment. This new influx of support was led by iAngels, Israel, and includes investors Maverick Ventures, Israel; Food Tech Lab TFTL, Spain; The Kitchen Hub, Israel, as part of the Strauss Group and IIA; NEOME, Israel; Schestowitz Group, Israel; and Semillero, Puerto Rico. The start-up says its enzymatic technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibers and other non-digestible molecules. Reducing up to 80% of all sugars, Better Juice says its non-GMO technology is designed to target orange juice’s specific sugar composition to naturally create a low-calorie, reduced-sugar product with a delicate sweetness. The investment also will be used to build the company’s first full-scale manufacturing plant.

 Kennesaw, Ga.-based Deerland Probiotics & Enzymes recently launched a new website, www.DE111.com, which will serve as a resource for consumers and partners. The site includes links to human clinical trials, as well as introductory information about how probiotics work in the body. Bacillus subtilis DE111 is, by nature, a hardy probiotic that delivers immune and digestive health benefits across a wide range of manufacturing conditions and formats, including gummies, drink powder mixes, snacks and pet treats, it says. “Consumers want to know the story behind the product — the ingredients, how they work, and the science behind them,” said Kristin Wilhoyte, director of marketing communications at Deerland Probiotics & Enzymes, in a statement. “So, we’ve created a site that provides information about DE111, its benefits, and scientific support to our partners and their end customers.”

Roquette Ventures, a French investment company supporting pioneer innovations in food, nutrition and health, recently announced an investment in Magellan Life Sciences Ltd., a UK biotech company that develops plant-inspired proteins through a fermentation process. The seed round was led by Roquette Ventures and completed with investments from U.S.-based SOSV and three European business partners. This collaboration aims to accelerate their market entry into new protein sweeteners, the company said in a statement. Magellan Life Sciences Ltd. has developed a unique proprietary expression and fermentation platform to produce new generations of protein sweeteners for the food and beverage industries, which taste almost identical to sucrose with a much higher sweetening power, it said. The current funding round will be used for optimization and to scale up the manufacturing process of the protein sweeteners.