Phytolon and Ginkgo Bioworks Boost Natural Food Colors by Hitting Full-Project Milestone, Nearly Tripling the Manufacturing Efficiency of Phytolon's Innovative Colors
Replacing artificial dyes with natural colors has become a national priority, moved by consumer demand, regulation, and governmental pressure.
Achieving this milestone—by increasing coloring efficiency and reducing costs—could unlock new market segments that are not well-supported by current natural food colors.
The achievement grants Ginkgo with additional equity in Phytolon, and paves the way to explore further collaborations in the field of natural food colors.
YOKNE'AM ILLIT, Israel and BOSTON, April 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Phytolon, a biotech-foodtech startup that offers natural food colors via fermentation of baker's yeast, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA, "Ginkgo"), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today announced the successful completion of the second development milestone of their multi-product collaboration to produce natural food colors and the resulting distribution of an equity milestone to Ginkgo.
The collaboration, which started in 2022, consists of development of yeast strains to produce two natural colors, aimed at offering the food industry vibrant, fully functional replacements to synthetic dyes under strong regulatory and legislation pressure.
Artificial food dyes are under growing pressure in the U.S., driven by regulatory action and rising health concerns. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made removal of synthetic colors a priority, and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has announced an initiative to eliminate synthetic colors from the US food supply by the end of 2026, if not sooner. The FDA has already banned FD&C Red No. 3 due to cancer risks, and a growing number of states have passed or proposed bans on artificial dyes, especially in school meals. This momentum is accelerating the industry's shift toward natural color alternatives.
After achieving the first development milestone (in early 2024) that unlocked the entire yellow-to-purple spectrum, Ginkgo leveraged its strong AI modeling expertise and its high-throughput screening platform to deliver strains with nearly 3-times higher production efficiency, enabling Phytolon to develop high-quality formulations that successfully address the desired coloring standards in multiple food categories such as baked goods, snacks seasoning, toppings & icings, confectionaries, dairy yogurts, and ice creams & frozen novelties.
Moreover, the improved production efficiency drives a significant reduction in the production costs and carbon footprint. Phytolon's fermentation-based manufacturing process requires less energy and capital investment to reach high coloring efficiency compared with benchmark natural colors that rely on farming and extensive post-processing.
Phytolon's "Beetroot Red" & "Prickly Pear Yellow" are expected to be available in U.S. markets upon approval by the FDA.
Upon meeting the second development milestone, Ginkgo will receive additional equity in Phytolon, reaping new benefits from the growing Ginkgo–Phytolon partnership and planting the seeds for follow-up projects that amplify Phytolon's sustainable and cost-efficient offerings to the food coloring sector and the entire food industry.
Wissam Mansour, Phytolon's Chief Product Officer, commented, "This is an unprecedented opportunity. The vibrant colors Phytolon is now poised to deliver to customers will allow the food industry to explore the full potential of natural and healthy beet and prickly pear pigments that have never before been readily available with such purity and quality."
Jennifer Wipf, Ginkgo's General Manager of Discovery & Manufacturing Solutions, commented, "It has been a pleasure to work alongside our partners at Phytolon to help bring their colorful products to market. We tapped many of Ginkgo's cell programming capabilities to deliver "Beetroot Red" & "Prickly Pear Yellow" production strains and processes that make possible an entire palette of food colors. We look forward to continuing to work with Phytolon as they innovate in this market."
About Ginkgo Bioworks:
Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo Biosecurity is building and deploying the next-generation infrastructure and technologies that global leaders need to predict, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.
About Phytolon:
Phytolon is focused on offering natural food colors that comply with the consumers demand for clean label, healthy, and sustainable food systems. Leveraging our novel fermentation-based production technology, we are committed to providing cost-efficient and sustainable solutions, while guaranteeing robust supply to customers around the world. Phytolon's portfolio currently includes multiple shades, covering the purple, pink, red, orange, and yellow spectrum, targeting multiple food categories in the food and beverage market
To learn more, visit Phytolon.com and follow us on our LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the partnership and Ginkgo's cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) our ability to realize near-term and long-term cost savings associated with our site consolidation plans, including the ability to terminate leases or find sub-lease tenants for unused facilities, (ii) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (iii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, including with respect to our solutions and tools offerings, (iv) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (v) the uncertainty regarding the demand for passive monitoring programs and biosecurity services, (vi) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vii) the outcome of any pending or potential legal proceedings against Ginkgo, (viii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs and Codebase assets, (ix) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, (x) the product development, production or manufacturing success of our customers, (xi) our exposure to the volatility and liquidity risks inherent in holding equity interests in other operating companies and other non-cash consideration we may receive for our services, (xii) the potential negative impact on our business of our restructuring or the failure to realize the anticipated savings associated therewith and (xiii) the uncertainty regarding government budgetary priorities and funding allocated to government agencies. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 25, 2025 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
PHYTOLON MEDIA CONTACT:Shir Haitshir@phytolon.com
GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:investors@ginkgobioworks.com
GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:press@ginkgobioworks.com
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