We were contacted by a leading company in the cosmetics sector for the development of a new postbiotic personal care product line. The goal was to support and, over time, replace a line of face creams/serums/eye contour products present on the market for about a year, but based on probiotics. The choice fell on our company after thorough research and several meetings to assess the feasibility of collaboration in open innovation according to the company’s very high standards.
Starting Situation
The need to study new formulations that could maintain the same functional properties and claims of “eco-sustainability,” “innovation,” and “natural origin of ingredients” as the previous line arose from the necessity to improve the stability of the already initiated probiotic formulations, which were more exposed to chemical, physical, and microbiological alterations.
A reduced shelf life and problems with formula separation thus pushed the company to seek alternative new solutions, finding in our postbiotics research and development team the production support they desired: natural postbiotic ingredients properly optimized from a functional, rheological, and long-term stability perspective.
Strategies Adopted
The strategy adopted by our research & development group was to appropriately select a plant-based matrix to ferment, possessing soothing, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties for the skin, and capable of being an excellent fermentative substrate for the probiotic lactobacillus previously used by the company.
Based on our experience in the field and the multidisciplinary nature of our team, we immediately initiated a targeted study on the feasibility of lactic fermentation, inactivation, and stabilization processes of an oat suspension, in order to obtain a dry postbiotic semi-finished product, appropriately characterized from a functional and technological standpoint, to be incorporated within a formulation.
The reactor configuration and process operating conditions were therefore optimized. Subsequent formulation tests were conducted to define the percentages of postbiotic and various ingredients within the final recipe, so as to guarantee the desired biological effect on the skin as well as the requested rheological and sensory properties.
Results Obtained
The use of a dry ingredient allowed overcoming the limited storage times associated with an aqueous extract and concentrating the active and antioxidant metabolites produced during fermentation. This required a detailed study of the optimal granulometry of the postbiotic powder and the percentages to be included in the formulation.
Compared to the starting probiotic formulation, the presence of the postbiotic ingredient was able to guarantee greater stability of the emulsion under thermal and mechanical stress, thanks to the pronounced emulsifying and stabilizing properties of the inactivated fermentate.
Moreover, an in-depth shelf life study, conducted to determine the expiration date and PAO, highlighted greater stability over time against oxidative phenomena of the oily component and microbiological degradation.
Conclusions
The company had long wanted to start developing postbiotic products. Their team did not have the preparation and experience suitable to carry this out. Facing high costs and times to train their internal team had always discouraged them.
The increasingly competitive times forced them to a choice: continue producing a product line no longer innovative and with reduced performance, or rely on an external company through open innovation. The choice was easy and allowed them to innovate their product line and find in our ITP team a valuable future support for the production of natural postbiotic ingredients properly optimized from a functional, rheological, and stability standpoint, ensuring greater competitiveness and bringing highly innovative products to market.
