Natural and vegetable, harvested by hand and processed without chemical inputs, acacia gum meets today's consumer demands. It improves the nutritional profile of products offered by the food industry and provides an alternative to synthetic products for the cosmetics sector. Acacia gum is a natural 100% plant hydrocolloid.

Founded in 1884, Alland & Robert, a French 100 % family business based in Normandy, specializes in the processing of acacia gum.

The company recently launched Alland & Robert Services, making the technical expertise of its R&D teams available to food and cosmetics companies. The aim is to offer a comprehensive consultancy service to help companies design, develop and industrialize products containing acacia gum, enabling them to meet today's consumer challenges.

The methodology offered by Alland & Robert Services ranges from component analysis to optimize the product formula, to experimentation using the company's state-of-the-art equipment. Alland & Robert's teams can assist their customers with marketing, sales, industrial development and regulatory issues.

The company supports players in the agri-food and cosmetics industries in developing their formulations, studying production feasibility, facilitating industrial development, ensuring complete, optimized integration of formulas and testing their stability.

"With Alland & Robert Services, we work hand in hand with food manufacturers to create the food of tomorrow. For the cosmetics sector, we help market players to promote the sustainability and naturalness that consumers increasingly expect".says Isabelle Jaouen, R&D Manager.

_{Photo : Montemari / Pixabay}

Basf presented innovative solutions that accelerate the cosmetics industry's transition to sustainability at in-Cosmetics Global, held in Paris from April 16 to 18, 2024.

"Tomorrow's beauty is the expression of a holistic and responsible approach to consumption and life. Consumers want to be able to make informed decisions, and are looking for information about the origin and provenance of raw materials, as well as the environmental impact of a product, explains Gisela Pinheiro, Senior Vice President of Basf Personal Care Europe. Through innovative digital solutions, we help our customers to seize new opportunities in a fast-changing market and increase transparency for consumers."

Beyond Beauty: unveiling the future of Personal Care

Beyond beauty, Basf is committed to providing its customers with solutions to seize new opportunities in a rapidly changing personal care market, based on digital services and taking into account consumer values and priorities.

With "Beyond Beauty", the company intends to show what tomorrow's beauty will look like: consumers are looking for cosmetics that respect health and the environment, enhance their well-being, emphasize authenticity and respect the planet at the same time. Basf thus plays an active role, working hand-in-hand with its partners and customers along the entire value chain to create sustainable, high-performance solutions.

Increasing transparency of products' carbon footprint

With Care 360° - Solutions for Sustainable Life, Basf's Care Chemicals division is making sustainable development a priority. The integration of PCF (Product Carbon Footprints) in its D'lite digital services platform aims to provide CO2 transparency, by enabling manufacturers to obtain data on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the products they buy. 

Basf, which invests in green energy, also offers certified sustainable raw materials and replaces fossil raw materials with renewable ones thanks to the Biomass Balance approach, which uses a third-party verified certification method. 

Formulating the future with biopolymers

The ingredient supplier is behind the Verdessence range of biopolymers. Five ingredients for applications ranging from make-up to hair care are available. 

According to the company, these natural biopolymers are promising rheology modifiers. However, their use represents a challenge for formulators as, to date, there is no single substitute for conventional synthetic polymers. Basf's experts have therefore developed a multi-biopolymer approach to identify the most appropriate combination for each application. To this end, they have studied various combinations of the company's range of biopolymers in aqueous systems and emulsions. The vast majority of the formulations proposed comply with the Cosmos standard for natural cosmetics.

Visualizing the potential of cosmetic active ingredients

To prove the efficacy of its cosmetic ingredients, Basf uses advanced 2D and 3D models close to real skin conditions. The company has extended its imaging expertise to reveal previously unseen modes of action. According to Basf, "Imagery" opens up new possibilities for the development of plant-based active ingredients, and surpasses traditional objectification methods. At in-Cosmetics, visitors were able to discover this expertise as part of an immersive journey, using virtual reality headsets to explore the application of imaging to specific skin needs.

Exploring the power of pearlizers and opacifiers

The visual appearance of a formulation - pearlescent, luminous or matte finish, for example - is an important purchasing factor for consumers. Using a five-step approach, Basf demonstrates the different visual aspects that can be achieved with different dispersions or combinations of waxes in surfactant systems at different concentrations. The concept focuses on the visual assessment of all formulations according to defined monadic and associative parameters, as well as on color evaluation. 

Alternatives to silicones through scientific modeling

Cosmetics manufacturers are faced with the challenge of finding alternatives to silicones such as cyclosiloxanes. Instead of replacing them with other variants of synthetic silicones such as dimethicones, the switch to biodegradable alternatives offers manufacturers the opportunity to meet consumer expectations for natural, sustainable beauty products.

Basf's approach is based on its Emollient Maestro digital service, an application available on the D'lite online platform. It is based on scientific data and offers users alternatives to the synthetic standards on the market, including dimethicones. Combined with a powerful portfolio of alternatives to silicones, and complemented by extensive formulation expertise, the company helps its customers develop and improve new, more natural and sustainable cosmetic designs.ertise, the company helps its customers develop and improve new, more natural and sustainable cosmetic designs.

_{Image taken from https://www.personal-care.basf.com.}