We specialize in a renewable plant-based glucose polymer with special properties: amylose
Starch consists of two glucose polymers, amylopectin (about 75%), and amylose (about 25%). The two polymers act very differently when used in human nutrition and in food and non-food products.
In food, the amylose fraction will keep blood sugar under control and thus help controlling diabetes. Used as a food ingredient, valuable functionalities can be obtained for product texture and as emulsifier.
In non-foods such as bioplastic, amylose-based products are very strong yet decomposes quickly in nature.
Future amylose applications include intestinal drug delivery systems.
It is possible but prohibitively expensive to separate amylopectin and amylose from native starch at the tons level. The only realistic large-volume amylose source is to make plants accumulate high levels of amylose when growing in the field.
Our Business Values
Knowledge based development
We base our development on a solid foundation of knowledge spanning 10 years as well as close co-operation with partners across the value chain.
We create knowledge
We create application knowledge on amylose-based food and non-food solutions
We develop crops
We develop new agricultural crops where the composition of starch has been modified to contain high levels of the glucose polymer amylose
We grow crops
We multiply, grow, and harvest PlantCarb crops in co-operation with local growers
We produce
We produce high-amylose flour and starch from the harvest in co-operation with B2B partners
We co-operate
We supply high-amylose flour and starches to B2B customers and assists in customer R&D with application know-how
Societal Values
We support the UN Sustainability Goals
plantCarb crops and products contribute to several of the UN sustainability goals - with focus on healthy plant-based foods and solving important environmental pollution challenges.
plantCarb foods holds major health benefits
planCarb products are based on local (organic) production
plantCarb materials are plant biodegradable and compostable
plantCarb products are plant-based renewables - globally abundant
plantCarb materials provides 65-100% lower GHG footprint
plantCarb materials prevent plastic pollution
plantCarb Lean Baking
The first plantCarb food product plantCarb Lean Baking Flour was multiplied in 2023 to about 0.5 t. In 2024, we will continue this multiplication. The first test products are scheduled to end 2024. From 2025, we can provide commercial levels.
plantCarb Lean Baking Flour is a special version of barley with many desirable properties.
• Consuming bread made from plantCarb Lean Baking Flour reduces blood sugar >40% compared to wheat bread.
• Moreover, plantCarb Lean Baking Flour contains high levels of healthy constituents controlling blood cholesterol (beta-glucans).
• Unlike most current barley cultivars, plantCarb Lean Baking Flour is specially optimized to bread and other flour-based foods such as pasta, waffles, and crackers.
• plantCarb Lean Baking Flour taste great without a “malty” smell and taste, like other barley cultivars.
• plantCarb Lean Baking Flour can replace wheat from 50-100% in most recipes.
• In the bronze and Viking ages, Nordic peoples consumed bread. The flour was founded on certain so-called “naked” barley cultivars that we have rediscovered.
• plantCarb Lean Baking Flour is a robust and high-yielding spring barley that works well with non-pesticide regimes as organic agriculture.
Samples of plantCarb Lean Baking Flour are available for B2B partners.
Hulless and high amylose barley reduce blood sugar compared to wheat
A scientific paper has now been published about the clinical effects of hulless barley and high-amylose barley in bread, as compared to wheat. In a controlled study, the authors Mette Bohl, Søren Gregersen, Yuyue Zhong, Kim Henrik Hebelstrup and Kjeld Hermansen found that “bread made by replacing wheat flour with either 50% high-amylose or 75% hulless barley flour lowered postprandial [= after meal] glucose responses compared to 100% wheat bread indicating a beneficial impact on glucose regulation in T2D subjects”.
The study was using barley lines from plantCarb. See https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2607823/v1
Science based applications knowhow
A multitude of applications
We create application knowledge on amylose-based food and non-food solutions and asssist in customer R&D.
Sample products available now
Our first batch of products
Qualified B2B development partners within the baking, foods, bioplastics and composite-materials industries as well as research partnes may request a sample of our first amylose based products now.
Lean Baking Flour
plantCarb Lean Baking Barley is a healthy flour that in most flour-based products can replace wheat and maize flour by 50-100% depending on recipe.
Read moreLean Food Starch
PlantCarb Lean Food is a starch purified from a specially bred barley variant containing more than 90% amylose and only up to 10% amylopectin.
Read moreCompostable Bioplastic Feedstock
plantCarb Compostable Bioplastic Feedstock secures a 66% reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emission compared to other biobased bioplastic feedstocks.
Read moreStrong Bio-composite Granulate
Certain mixtures of amylose and nanocellulose alongside with a suitable plasticizing principle forms the basis of fully biodegradable composite materials.
Read more
We are open for co-development
Our partners
We cooperate with a number of highly qualified development partners from research organisations to industry partners within the baking, foods, bioplastics, composite-materials and pharma industries.