Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has awarded the 2020 Research Innovators Award to food scientists Gregory Ziegler and Joshua Lambert for their work in developing avocado-based food colorants. The scientists’ discovery led to the creation of Persea Naturals, a public company. The $3,000 stipend award is given annually to recognize Penn State faculty and staff who have created commercial intellectual property based on their research.
“Dr. Ziegler’s and Dr. Lambert’s work has created a growing business that meets the food processing industry’s rising demand for natural food coloring additives that are derived from a waste product,” said Robert Roberts, professor and head of the Department of Food Science. “This is an innovation with a practical impact in a $1.6 billion market, and they are worthy of this prestigious Research Innovator Award.”
Ziegler, a professor of food science who joined the Penn State faculty in 1988, found that when avocado pits are pulverized, they form a bright orange color. In partnership with Lambert, another professor of food science who came to the University in 2008, this led to a multi-year study to identify the compound. Their research found a wide spectrum of orange, yellow, and red colors that can be derived from the avocado pits. They founded Persea Naturals in 2016 and they received $75,000 in jumpstart funding from Invent Penn State’s Fund for Innovation.
The pair also received a RAIN grant from the College of Agricultural Sciences, and they received two Small Business innovation Research grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“The technology developed by this team is exceptional in that it also has the potential to provide benefits besides its use as a natural food colorant,” said Gary Thompson, associate dean of research and graduate education for the college. “They have added value to a waste product that usually ends up in landfills and now are testing the extracts from the seeds for anti-inflammatory properties.”
Ziegler and Lambert have done extensive research and commercialization of intellectual property development, registered patents, and garnered support from national organizations.