Safr'Inside™: A Unique Encapsulated Saffron Extract

Safr'Inside™: Unique Encapsulated Saffron Extract

Activ'Inside introduced Safr'Inside, the first encapsulated saffron extract, at the Vitafoods Europe 2019 trade fair held in Geneva. Produced using the Tech'care extraction process patented in France, Safr'Inside offers safranal concentration optimized up to 10 times higher compared to other saffron extracts. The key advantage that makes the Tech'care process unique is that it protects active saffron through a natural encapsulation method. To date, saffron extracts used in nutraceutical applications have not been sufficiently characterized and process only a portion of the active metabolites originally found in Iranian saffron stigmas. The fundamental reason for this is the use of extraction processes that alter a significant portion of saffron active metabolites. For example, safranal and crocin, which are highly volatile and/or thermosensitive compounds. To preserve the richness of the raw material (Iranian saffron stigmas), Activ'Inside developed and patented the soft extraction process Tech'care. This process, developed in France, is based on an innovative extraction/absorption combination. During extraction, saffron metabolites are protected from heat and solvent changes through the addition of a carrier. This unique process provides natural encapsulation for saffron metabolites. Compared to the classical atomization process in which saffron particles and solvent are separated from each other, Tech'care extraction™ allows saffron particles to be surrounded by the carrier matrix. This process preserves saffron volatile metabolites, particularly safranal, and optimizes their concentration in the final extract. According to U-HPLC analysis, Safr'Inside™ is up to 10 times richer in safranal compared to other saffron extracts.