It was registered and established in March 2014, construction started in August 2015, and put into production at the end of 2016. Qingdao Seawit Life Technology Co., Ltd. is obviously a very "young" high-tech enterprise. However, it is mainly used in infant formula milk powder, injectable fat emulsion, In the field of fine processing of functional lipid products such as foods for special medical purposes and special edible oils, they have already gained fame. Thanks to the support and joining of Zhu Beiwei, the only academician of the National Academy of Engineering in the field of marine food engineering, and Professor Wang Xingguo, the academic leader of the national key disciplines in the field of edible oil in my country, etc., Seawit has been given the wings to take off and has strong strength. The scientific research and innovation team of Seawit helped Haizhiyuan to break the technical barriers of foreign patents in a short period of time and become a leader in the supply of "highly active nutrients" ingredients in China.
"The company's output value this year is estimated to be 200 million yuan." At the beginning of 2018, Bai Changjun, the chairman of the company and a leader in Taishan's industry, made a bold statement. The dream of "serving the country by industry" of several scientists is stepping into reality.
"Kochi" started a business to extract green lipids from marine microalgae
"Ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates has a famous saying: Let food be medicine, let medicine be food. And Hai Zhiyuan's mission is to make people healthier and smarter." Bai Changjun told reporters, academician, well-known professor and engineering technology Experts jointly initiated and invested in the establishment of Haizhiyuan, which stems from their common ideal of "upgrading" the food industry, and this ideal has been fully nourished in Qingdao's good innovation and entrepreneurial ecology.
The well-known "brain gold" DHA is mainly extracted from tuna, but the global annual output of tuna is very small, far from meeting market demand. Beginning in 2007, Bai Changjun, Zhu Beiwei, Wang Xingguo and others began to discuss and explore the extraction of DHA from deep-sea microalgae, and proposed the construction of a factory project. In 2010, the country officially approved microalgae DHA as a new resource food, which can be used as a nutritional fortifier for infant formula foods. This innovative team realized: the opportunity is here!
Seawit selected the Jimo Life Science Industrial Park and received angel investment from Bohai Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Bohai Industry, since its establishment. The company's senior talents continue to grow. In addition to academician Zhu Beiwei and Professor Wang Xingguo, there are also domestic experts and scholars such as Jin Qingzhe, Zhou Dayong, and Wang Yongfu who are well-known in the fields of lipid nutrition and lipid chemistry. Three new senior biomedicine experts have been added. Professional doctorate. At present, the company's R&D team has systematically developed new technologies for the green preparation, refining and application of marine microbial lipids, and has successfully developed the "precise and appropriate processing" and "secondary microencapsulation" of long-carbon chain polyunsaturated fatty acid glycerides. "Embedded" and other new technologies, the three brand products of Seawit, Haijibao, and Qiaobao include microalgae DHA, Mortierella alpina ARA (note: an important substance for the physiological activities of the nervous system) and other microorganisms. Functional lipids and their microcapsule powders, as well as fish oil, krill oil and other marine biological source functional lipid powders, can be widely used in infant formula foods, health products, pharmaceutical grade fat emulsions, foods for special medical purposes, edible oils, etc. In the field, the comprehensive product quality index has reached the top international level.
Ten million yuan in scientific research funding each year, product standards are "stricter" than international standards
"The market prospects for our products are very broad." From time to time, Bai Changjun popped up some professional terms, such as DHA, ARA, MCT, EPA, etc. These food chemical names that sound a bit obscure are inseparable from human health." Source of nutrition". For example, ARA is a fatty acid that needs to be supplemented for the growth and development of infants before 6 months; MCT is a medium-carbon chain fatty acid glyceride, which is processed from coconut oil or palm kernel oil as raw materials, and can be directly decomposed by the liver to provide body energy. But it will not be converted into fat. It is an important raw material for weight-loss products; EPA is known as the "vascular scavenger", which can regulate blood lipids and prevent thrombosis. However, with the exception of some well-known international companies, many domestic products have shortcomings such as bad smell and poor stability. "Our core technology is the know-how of precise and appropriate processing. It is necessary to retain as much as possible the fat-soluble beneficial companions such as vitamins and carotene in the raw materials, but also to remove the pollutant hazards and other impurities to the greatest extent, and to avoid glycidyl esters, etc. The production of harmful by-products."
Seawit has only more than 80 employees, but the annual scientific research funding investment exceeds 10 million yuan. The company independently developed proprietary process technology, introduced key devices and equipment technology, and built the world's top microcapsule powder factory. Their "self-discipline" production standards are far higher than domestic and international standards in the same industry. For example, the content of trans fatty acids in the products of a company can be controlled below 0.3%. According to the relevant regulations of the Ministry of Health, it can be marked as "zero", which is something that most food companies cannot do. For another example, the state stipulates that the limits of heavy metals lead and arsenic in health (functional) foods are 0.5PPM and 0.3PPM (Note: concentration in parts per million), while Seawit's corporate standard is lower than 0.1 or even 0.05PPM.
Corresponding to the control of harmful substances, Seawit's nutritional content is also higher than the industry standard. At present, compared with breast milk, the overall similarity of fat components in infant formula milk powder at home and abroad is only 44 to 75%, while the similarity of Haizhiyuan breast milk substitute fat can reach more than 85%.
The development of pharmaceutical-grade MLCT will drive the upstream and downstream value-added to over 10 billion yuan
According to Bai Changjun, microalgae can only distinguish their morphology under a microscope, and their size is usually only 8 microns. It is conceivable that it is difficult to gather such small algae to harvest and extract nutrients, and to achieve efficient, green and deep processing.
"Our advantage is that we have developed a new technology in the fermentation process of microalgae to solve this problem." Seawit has applied for more than 30 patents in the extraction technology, intensive processing and application management of polyunsaturated fatty acids. It has developed the proprietary technology of a complete set of functional lipid processing equipment, broke the technical barriers of foreign patents, realized substitution of imports, and obtained production licenses for more than 130 products, leading the development of the industry.
In 2018, Seawit launched a new development plan-the use of enzymatic transesterification technology to produce pharmaceutical grade MLCT (medium and long chain triglycerides). "MLCT is a high-end structural functional fat and a food for special medical purposes. There is a nickname of'slimming oil' in the market. At present, whether it is medical grade or food grade MLCT, it depends on imports." Bai Changjun said. Important policies and regulations for special medical foods in my country were promulgated one after another in 2009. Foreign companies are vying to enter the Chinese market. In the next 5 to 10 years, there will be a spurt of development, and the scale is expected to reach 75 to 150 billion yuan.
It is understood that special medical food can not only provide clinical nutrition for patients, but also can be used for disease prevention. In addition, injectable emulsions and powders characterized by drug-loaded MLCTs can also be effective for the sustained release of poorly fat-soluble drugs and targeted drugs in medical treatment. According to the city's health industry development plan, Haizhiyuan strives to build pharmaceutical-grade MLCT and special medical food projects in Qingdao, and build Qingdao into a functional lipid production, scientific research and industrialization base.
"We focus on'new raw materials for medicine and food', based on intensive processing technologies such as biotechnology, focusing on solving outstanding problems that plague the application of highly active nutrients, and opening the door to widespread applications." Bai Changjun said that the company is expected to produce 200 million yuan this year. After the project is completed and put into production, it is estimated that the annual output value will be 2 billion yuan within 5 years, and the upstream and downstream value added will exceed 10 billion yuan.