November 30, 2015
Kobelco Eco-Solutions Co., Ltd.


Kobelco Eco-Solutions to enter food manufacturing business
Submits notification to start manufacture and sale of Euglena as food raw material


Kobelco Eco-Solutions Co., Ltd. (also known as KES) announces that it submitted a notification to the Public Health Center of Kobe City of the start of a food manufacturing business for the manufacture and sale of Euglena (*1) as a food raw material. In turn, the Public Health Center issued a certificate to KES acknowledging that it had received the notification.

● Name of the food raw material for manufacture: Euglena gracilis EOD-1 (*2)

● Location of manufacturing facility: KES’s Technical Research Center in Kobe, Japan

KES installed a 1m3 closed reactor at its Technical Research Center in September 2014, and had been studying how to improve the productivity of Euglena through heterotrophic cultivation (*3). So far, KES has succeeded in doubling the productivity of Euglena using fed-batch cultivation (*4). At this time, KES has improved its cultivation facility in order to maintain stable quality and safety of the food raw material.

From now on, KES will build a corporate structure to enable stable manufacturing and sales for its customers with whom it has so far proceeded in consultation.

KES will also continue to examine other applications, such as cosmetics and chemical products, and make further efforts to commercialize Euglena.

Notes:

(*1) Euglena: A unique organism with plant-like qualities that enable photosynthesis, but like an animal it

can move by twisting itself.

(*2) Euglena gracilis EOD-1: A new strain of Euglena discovered and cultivated by KES.

(*3) Heterotrophic cultivation: A cultivation method that uses organic compounds as the source of carbon

for organisms.

(*4) Fed-batch cultivation: A cultivation method in which a medium component is additionally supplied during

cultivation to maintain or improve productivity.



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