Functional Technologies is a bioindustrial company focused on providing innovative and proprietary solutions to high-impact problems in the global food, beverage and healthcare industries, by capitalizing on its core competencies in microorganism-based technologies and platforms.
Through extensive fundamental and applied research programs, Functional Technologies has developed several proprietary yeast-based technology platforms that enable a yeast strain's natural and innate functions to prevent the formation of common contaminants.
Functional Technologies' lead products are a suite of wine yeasts that prevent the formation of hydrogen sulphide (H2S), colourless volatile gas and a natural by-product of wine fermentation that causes a distinctive, unpleasant noxious odour in wine, beer and other yeast-fermented beverages. It is one of the most common occurring sensory defects in winemaking worldwide, and is a widespread and costly quality-control problem in commercial wine production.
Through its subsidiary, Phyterra Yeast Inc., Functional Technologies' H2S-preventing wine yeasts were launched in the commercial wine yeast market in 2010, with introductory sales occuring in more than 400 commercial wineries in the U.S., South America and Europe in the past two years.
The Company's second lead product, at a pre-commercial stage, is a yeast-based platform that prevents the formation of acrylamide in carbohydrate-rich foods. Acrylamide is a World Health Organization (WHO) Group 2A carcinogen that is generated naturally as a byproduct of frying, baking or toasting carbohydrate-rich processed foods such as bread and baked goods, potato chips, French fries, cookies and baby food. First emerging as a public health concern as a widespread food contaminant in 2002, acrylamide mitigation is a major objective of food safety organizations worldwide.
Functional Technologies' proprietary yeast-based acrylamide solution enhances the natural ability of yeasts to degrade asparagine, the main precursor substance of acrylamide. The Company is in discussions and working with industry partners to develop commercial applications for its acrylamide-preventing yeasts in a variety of food sectors.
Headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Functional Technologies also has research and development programs in Prince Edward Island (PEI). The Company also maintains a technical marketing presence with fully support capabilities in Napa, California and marketing & sales in Stuttgart, Germany.