On September 21, 2018, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued Bonumose LLC a Notice of Allowance on its patent application for “Enzymatic Production of D-Tagatose.” The USPTO’s action recognizes the importance of Bonumose’s unique process for producing high-yields of low-cost tagatose from starch.
Bonumose’s Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder, Dr. Daniel Wichelecki, is the inventor of Bonumose’s tagatose process. Bonumose’s patent attorneys are Jeffrey Lindeman and Sulay Jhaveri, Ph.D. of J.A. Lindeman & Co., PLLC, and Bonumose sincerely thanks them and the firm for their efforts. To expand its patent estate, Bonumose is pursuing additional tagatose-related patents in the U.S. and other countries, as well as process patents for allulose, allose, mannose, other monosaccharides, and other food ingredients. Pending patent applications cover over 70 countries globally.
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Tagatose is a naturally-occurring “rare sugar” traditionally made from lactose at extremely high cost compared to regular sugar. Tagatose tastes like regular sugar — without bitter or off-flavors — and has nearly the same sweetness and bulking properties (92% as sweet). It functions in foods and beverages like regular sugar does; for example, it decreases water activity in baked foods, depresses freezing points in ice cream, undergoes the desirable Maillard reaction and caramelization, and also balances out the taste and mouthfeel of high-intensity sweeteners such as stevia. Remarkably, tagatose has positivehealth benefits: it does not raise blood glucose or insulin levels, is low calorie, and is recognized by the U.S. FDA and other regulatory bodies as being safe for teeth. Furthermore, tagatose is a prebiotic, fiber-like monosaccharide that has beneficial effect on gut health, including the production of short-chain fatty acids.
Instead of using animal-derived lactose, Bonumose’s breakthrough process utilizes plant-based starch from potato, cassava, pea, or other plants. Bonumose intends to launch tagatose using starch from non-GMO plants. With the unique blend of food-grade enzymes, Bonumose’s process yields tagatose in amounts 4X higher than typical processes.
Integral to its Business as a Moral Imperative principles, Bonumose believes high-quality, great-tasting, healthy food can be accessible to individuals and families of all income levels. Bonumose’s low-cost process will enable the mass-market use of tagatose across a wide variety of foods, beverages and snacks for healthy indulgence.
Bonumose continues to establish supply chain, distribution and other strategic relationships to advance its commercial manufacturing scale-up of tagatose and other good-for-you sugars. We are creating a foundation and framework to support a global company built to last for the long-term.
Bonumose also is pleased to announce two more additions to its science team earlier this year: Dr. Jonathan Wagner, Director of Enzyme Development; and Dr. Tapas Acharjee, Director of Process Engineering.
