Norway-based Hofseth BioCare manufactures a range of ingredients, including collagen peptides and collagen-calcium powders that can be used in a range of cosmetic and personal care applications such as shampoos, nail polishes and collagen shots. The company manufacturers its ingredients from Norwegian salmon off-cuts using a proprietary enzyme hydrolyse process to obtain peptides from the fish protein.
Tony Gay, head of technical sales and NPD at Prinova Europe, said it was an exciting partnership given sustainable and ethical trends.
“[Hofseth BioCare] is a pioneer in the marine ingredients market, combining high quality with a commitment to innovation, sustainability and traceability. At a time of increasing interest in ethically produced marine ingredients, their range is perfectly in line with consumer trends,” Gay said.
Sustainable collagen – ‘zero waste’
The process to obtain the collagen ingredients relied on “unique technology”, developed over 12 years, according to Roger Hofseth, CEO of the Norwegian biotech firm.
The process made it possible to create ingredients using “the whole fish, with zero waste”, Hofseth said. “All our processes are focused on sustainability. We also offer total traceability – we can track our production process all the way from fish eggs to final products.”
The company manufactured a whole range of nutritional ingredients from its salmon, including full-spectrum omega oils and protein powders, as well as its collagen blends – all suited to nutritional product formats like bars, drinks, tablets and personal care products.
Prinova Europe said it was already “working on concepts to showcase the benefits of Hofseth BioCare’s products for beauty from within”.
Marine biotech for sustainable cosmetics
Marine-based cosmetic ingredients, such as collagen and chitosans, continued to be widely used across the beauty and personal care industry but with a strong push for sustainability a whole range of technologies, extraction processes and use of by-products had evolved fast.
New Zealand-based Revolution Fibers, for example, recently ventured into beauty creating a collagen nanofibre from fish skin waste that could be used as a delivery system for other active ingredients.
Iain Hosie, founder and CEO of Revolution Fibres, previously told sister site CosmeticsDesign-Asia fish skins, in general, were “a big waste” with a substantial amount thrown out.
The vegan collagen shift?
Many companies serving the beauty and personal care sector had also opted to move away from animal-derived collagens, using technology to manufacture vegan alternatives instead.
Specialty chemicals firm Evonik Industries recently unveiled its vegan biotech collagen, made from a fermentation process that substituted use of animal-derived collagen. The ingredient was currently being positioned for use in medical and pharmaceutical sectors but could ultimately be applied to beauty in the future.
US-based biodesign firm Geltor also had a vegan collagen on the market – an ingredient it had been producing since 2018.