Nutritional Sciences

Nurturing food technology for healthy living

Global markets are witnessing a growing base of discerning and lifestyle-conscious consumers who are increasingly demanding food and supplements that balance functionalities (naturalness, safety and nutrition) and positive eating experience. We are striving to deliver on this with our rich knowledge in fermentation, food technology and biogenomics.

We offer nature-inspired and science-backed ingredient and formulation solutions, marketed under the brand Tata NQ, catering to human and animal health. Our flagship product lines – FOSSENCE® and GOSSENCE® – are prebiotic dietary fibres that promote gut microbiome growth for better digestive and immune health.

We are among the few prebiotics manufacturers following the wholecell fermentation route, using in-house developed patented technology. Our operation is supported by a multidisciplinary team of scientists working on microbiome science (the core science platform) and fermentation technology (the manufacturing platform) as well as state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. We hold numerous publications and patents.

clean

Fructo oligosaccharide (FOS)

Segment

Prebiotics

Customers

Customers B2B: Wellness food and beverage (F&B), nutraceutical formulations, and animal feed companies

clean

Glacto oligosaccharide (GOS)

Segment

Prebiotics

Customers

B2B: Infant and dairy food companies

1

Expertise

  • In human nutrition and microbiome
  • In fermentation technology that enables production using whole cell route, opening opportunities in other human nutrition segments, using the biosynthesis route
2

Strong partnerships

  • With Indian and global academic institutions and research bodies to further gut microbiota knowledge and the effects of its modulation on human health
3

Leading efforts

  • In Bio-informatics usage in human gut microbiota with development of accurate predictive models of microbiome response to interventions
4

Robust application support

  • Enabling close co-ordination with customers on new product development (NPD) projects and deep understanding of their requirements

Raw material (RM) sourcing

Sugar (primary RM) for FOS and Lactose (primary RM) for GOS are sourced in bulk from global suppliers at international price parity

Cultures of micro-organism strains

For bio-conversion, we rely on our patented microorganism strains developed at Innovation Centre, Pune. These are multiplied using sugar and by-product of the conversion process as medium

Downstream processing

Sugar/lactose solution is fermented using the patented cultures to produce oligosaccharides of fructose with DP 2-5. This is purified to 95% and spray-dried to give FOSSENCE powder

Packaging and logistics

Four variants of product are packed across various stock-keeping units as per customer requirement and end-use applications

Marketing

Products are distributed globally either directly (for large key accounts) or through channel partners (for other customers)

Nutrition is the core of our strategy.
Through our ongoing research on the gut microbiome, we are constantly discovering unique and useful insights which, we believe, provide a holistic approach towards health and nutrition. We will continue to offer science-backed solutions and work closely with customers to re-imagine the product possibilities. Tata NQ Innovation Day is one such opportunity platform to interact with customers, regulators and opinion leaders to build a cohesive plan to improve the overall health index of the country we wish to serve.

Rahul Gupta

Business Head - Nutritional Sciences

Advancing human nutrition, re-imagining possibilities

We have initiated ‘NQ Innovation Day’, an industry platform that engages with customers to expand knowledge on prebiotics benefits and explore limitless possibilities of prebiotic formulations and pass it on to end consumer. In FY 2019-20, three such events were arranged with the participation of 150+ major F&B and Nutraceutical companies and some notable dignitaries.

Result: Many participant companies have initiated NPD projects to leverage the functional and health benefits of FOS. These include:

  • Ability to partly replace sugar with zero GI ingredient
  • Enhancing sensory feel by masking offnotes and aftertaste of ingredients
  • Ability to promote growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut for weight and cholesterol management, immunity maturation, and mineral absorption, among others