Business owners, farmers and other community members attended an open house for a new food processing center in Cresco on Jan. 7 to learn about a unique way to produce a natural alternative to Synthetic Red Dye #40 from “purple corn.”
    During the open house, community members received tours of the new branch of Suntava, a Minneapolis-based development-stage group. The new center, which opened in October, is located inside the Cresco Food Technologies facility.
    Suntava has created a natural purple corn hybrid from which natural red dyes are extracted for use as a healthy alternative to synthetic dyes found in many foods and cosmetics. The processing center in Cresco will extract these natural dyes from the purple corn hybrid.
    The dye is then used in products such as soda, hard candy, yogurt, soups, liquor, frosting and supplements, among others in the food and cosmetic industries. The highly concentrated dye closely resembles the color of synthetic Red #40.
    “We manage the entire process from the seed to our customer’s hand, ensuring consistency, quality and security,” said Suntava CEO Bill Petrich.
    Five times more prevalent in our diets today than 30 years ago, synthetic dyes are considered enough of a health risk that The Center for Science in the Public Interest has petitioned the FDA to ban the use of some synthetic dyes and to make the public more aware of the health concerns surrounding them.
    The European Union has adopted legislation requiring labels be attached to products, warning consumers of adverse effects of synthetic colorants on children. In the United States, Whole Foods Market lists artificial colors as “unacceptable.”
    Over the years, Suntava has commercialized and advanced the production capabilities of its proprietary non-genetically modified purple corn hybrid to produce natural dyes from the grain while preserving the quality of the starches, glutens and oils for yet other uses in the food chain. For example, after dyes are extracted from corn, Suntava sells the leftover kernels for cattle feed.
    Corn is also an ideal crop to use because its easy to transport and can be stored for years before being processed.
    “We process on demand, which means a fresher product for our customers,”  Petrich said.
    The growing trend toward better health and healthy alternatives has brought a greater demand for natural dyes, and increased interest from U.S. firms looking for a secure, locally-produced product. Suntava hopes to meet this demand by taking it from the most abundant and widely understood crop source: corn.
    “The global market for red dyes in the food, beverage and cosmetic sector is over $2 billion with natural colorants projected to grow 10-15 percent,” said Petrich.
    Petrich said the company chose Cresco as the location of their new processing center because the space was ideal, it is close to the greatest corn belt in the world and Cresco Foods owner Willie Hendrickson was great to work with.
    Cresco also seemed like a good fit for Suntava because of Norman Borlaug’s heritage in the area.
    “One of his visions was to integrate these various streams of agricultural research into viable technologies and bring these advances to fruition,” Petrich said.
    Suntava is a private company supported by private investors, many of whom are intimate with Lamberton area where the corn is grown.
    “I can’t tell you how beneficial it is to have local people invested in this company,” Petrich told a room full of people during one of the presentations he gave at last week’s open house.
    Their product is not on the market yet, but is in the final test stages with several major customers.