Fermenta Biotech Limited, India's leading manufacturer of premium-grade APIs, intermediates, and nutritional premixes for the global markets, announced the signing of an Exclusive Licence Agreement with Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, for the commercialisation of a technology for Natural In-Situ Vitamin B12 Fortification in Fermented Foods.
Vitamin B12 deficiency remains a significant nutritional challenge, particularly among vegetarian and vegan populations with limited natural dietary sources. Fortifying widely consumed foods offers a potentially more accessible approach to improving intake than relying solely on tablets or injectables. The demand for Vitamin B12 solutions is also being supported by trends such as vegetarianism, ageing populations and greater focus on fortified foods.
Against this backdrop, VIT’s technology, covered under Indian Patent Application No. 202441015300, has been developed by Dr. Krishnan Venkataraman and his team at the Centre for BioSeparation Technology (“CBST”), VIT Vellore. It provides an approach to enhancing Vitamin B12 directly in fermented foods during the natural fermentation process, rather than by adding Vitamin B12 to the finished product.
The process uses selected nutrients and cofactors during fermentation to enhance the formation of Vitamin B12 within the food matrix. It is designed to integrate with existing food fermentation processes without requiring substantial alterations to conventional production methods. Laboratory studies demonstrated approximately 80 per cent retention of the enhanced Vitamin B12 levels following cooking, indicating the technology’s potential applicability across both fermented and subsequently cooked foods.
The next phase will include application development, nutritional validation, assessment of final Vitamin B12 concentrations, regulatory evaluation and development of commercially viable solutions for relevant food applications. The commercial potential extends across FMCG, food and nutrition, nutraceutical and broader health-related applications. Fermenta will leverage its capabilities in this domain to scale up accessible pre-mixes and fortified food solutions, exemplifying meaningful industry-academia synergy to combat widespread dietary deficiencies worldwide.
