ACI Group partners with Alvinesa® Natural Ingredients to distribute its sustainable product portfolio into the UK market

Leading UK distributor ACI Group Ltd (‘ACI Group’) has announced that it has secured a major deal with Alvinesa® Natural Ingredients (‘Alvinesa®’) to distribute its sustainable plant-based portfolio to the UK nutraceutical, food and nutrition, and animal nutrition markets.

The Spanish-based company, which prides itself on being a circular economy leader of sustainable ingredients, upcycles agricultural coproducts to support healthier lifestyles. The new partnership will enable ACI Group – and its customers – to access a wide portfolio of clean, natural ingredients to decrease overall carbon footprint through reducing food waste – one of the most effective solutions to impact climate change (1).

“Around 10.7 million tonnes of food surplus are disposed of each year in the UK (2) – approximately one quarter of the food purchased according to the latest report from WRAP. Furthermore, scope 3 emissions – greenhouse gas emissions occurring from upstream and downstream activity – account for around 90% of all food and drink companies’ carbon footprint (3),” comments Karsten Smet, CEO of ACI Group.

“With consumers advocating for more sustainable and responsible food production systems to limit this waste, the food industry is now reviewing its investment opportunity pipeline to understand how it can incorporate upcycled foods into its supply chain. Not only does this help support corporate ESG initiatives, but it also globally reduces carbon emissions to help meet the government net-zero emission target by 2050."

“The growing demand for upcycled ingredients means that there are ample opportunities for our customers to tap into its potential with access to ingredients that prioritise a circular economy ethos. ACI Group is proud to partner with Alvinesa® to bring its wide range of upcycled agricultural coproducts to the UK market, including its grape and olive extracts.”

With 75 years of operational expertise and an annual capacity of 320,000 tonnes, Alvinesa® is a family-owned business, much like ACI, that is privately backed by Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) – a global alternative specialist asset manager. Located in Daimiel, Spain, the company’s manufacturing facilities are strategically positioned in the largest wine region in the world, enabling unparallelled access to grapes and grape-derived (skin and seed) raw materials.

Available through ACI Group, its Hytolive® and Vintera™ portfolios comprise of olive fruit extract, grape extract rich in polyphenols, natural color (anthocynanins), natural tartaric acid and grape seed oil. Using a bio-based process with zero chemical solvents, Alvinesa® gently extracts the raw material nutrients to be used in applications such as functional foods and beverages, supplements, animal nutrition and more.

In addition, its grape extract, rich in polyphenols, is currently backed by two in vivo studies, with an ongoing clinical study to show the impact the ingredient has on cardiovascular health, in relation to blood pressure. Another study is currently ongoing with Hytolive® on glucose control.

Jon Fernandez de Barrena, CEO of Alvinesa®, said: “At Alvinesa®, we operate with recognised circular economy principles and employ sophisticated vineyard sustainability practices such as regenerative agriculture and biodynamic agriculture. This means that sustainability is added to the beginning of our supply chain – a process that ACI Group advocates for as part of its sustainability distribution model, and an ethos we immediately gelled with.

"

As proud members of the Upcycled Food Association and certified by B Corp, all our ingredients are controlled by a sustainable, traceable and waste prevention supply chain. We source only the highest quality of no-and-low-pesticide grape pomace from Castilla-La Mancha in Spain, and have a dedicated internal analytics and control team to ensure we meet the ESG requirements of our customers. Alvinesa® is therefore proud to partner with ACI Group, a forward-looking distributor that prioritises sustainability in all areas of the supply chain.”

Alvinesa® joins the likes of IFF, Goodmills Innovation and GreenField Natural Ingredients, GR Herbals and Caltron Clays in the company’s sustainable partnership portfolio.

For more information on ACI Group or its activities, please visit acigroup.biz/

References:

1. Upcycled Food Association, via Project Drawdown, 2022

2. WRAP, Food Surplus and Waste in the UK, November 2023
3. Climate Action NGO Wrap, 2024