New mushroom ingredient supplier Sempera Organics launches standardized extracts and ingredient blends: 2022 SupplySide West Report

Photo © Shutterstock.com/Khumthong

Sempera Organics (Morgan Hill, CA), a new supplier of mushroom ingredients, debuted several ingredient collections at November’s SupplySide West trade show in Las Vegas. The company, which also offers mushroom powders, rolled out its new line of standardized mushroom extracts as well as condition-specific mushroom-ingredient blends.

Like the company’s mushroom powders, its new extracts are standardized to 20% beta-glucans. The company says it has “developed proprietary green chemistry and clean extraction technologies to capture the full spectrum of water-soluble polysaccharides and the water-insoluble triterpenes and sterols, depending on the mushroom species.”

The company is offering lion’s mane, reishi, and cordyceps extracts. “Our extracts provide great versatility for formulators to create ready-to-mix and ready-to-drink beverage applications,” said Nirmal Nair, the company’s CEO and founder, in a press release. “A concentrated ingredient with excellent solubility and dispersion means our ingredients can be readily used for a wide variety of wet dosage applications.”

The company’s mushrooms are grown in Morgan Hill, CA, using vertical farming methods. Vertical farming offers sustainability advantages such as the ability to produce a higher volume of crop per square foot. Sempera grows its mushrooms on organic sorghum sourced in the United States. The company calls its vertically integrated supply chain “extensive” and says that it “includes genetics, substrate preparation, inoculation, fermentation, quality control, processing, and packaging in a cGMP-compliant facility located in California’s esteemed Silicon Valley.”

At SupplySide West, Nair told Nutritional Outlook about how Sempera’s operations are “a zero-waste facility, so there is no substrate waste spent and thrown outside. We think we are building the next generation of a biomanufacturing, sustainable company. We can hit 11 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”

He added: “We grow on organic sorghum, and we do a bioconversion, so there are disposable bioreactors. It’s like a lab environment, and it’s all done indoors because mushrooms don’t need light to grow. It’s climate agnostic. We say it’s very gentle on the planet, and it uses a limited amount of resources. Completion of growing can take anywhere from five to eight weeks depending on the species, and then we process them within the same facility, send it out for testing, and then it’s ready to be shipped.”

Nair said standardized products are a priority for Sempera. “Everything is per science. We get it all tested externally, and we give all our certifications to our customers,” he said.

Another key interest for the company is creating blends of mushroom ingredients. The company recently announced its new Core line of five signature mushroom blends: 1) Biome Core (to balance the microbiome), 2) Performance Core (targeting physical and mental performance for active adults), 3) Agewell Core (to support cellular health and against oxidative stress), 4) Immune Core (combining seven mushroom species all standardized to 20% beta-glucans to support immune health), and 5) Clarity Core (starring lion’s mane mushroom for cognitive support).

Consumers who are increasingly learning about the benefits of mushrooms, especially here in North America, are more often looking for condition-targeting ingredient blends, Nair said. “We’re going to see more blends happening,” he predicted at SupplySide West. “When consumers get up in the morning, they don’t say, ‘I want lion’s mane mushroom.’ They say, ‘I want something to make me feel alert.’ They’re looking for a benefit-condition.”