Can Hue Believe It? Gerit Tolborg’s Quest for Pure Color at Chromologics
Gerit Tolborg, CEO and co-founder of Chromologics, joins Karl and Erum to explore how filamentous fungi can replace synthetic and plant-extracted food dyes with a fermentation-derived red pigment called Tellurin. Gerit shares how a PhD discovery in Denmark led to a venture-backed startup producing a tasteless, odorless, and highly vibrant natural color that performs across processed food categories, from cured meats to bakery to dairy.
The conversation covers the real economics of bio-based colorants (including the critical concept of cost-in-use versus kilo price), the challenges of scaling downstream processing from a two-liter reactor to industrial CMOs, and how regulatory pathways at the FDA and EU's FSA are evolving to accommodate fermentation-derived ingredients. Gerit also makes a compelling case for fermentation as a tool for decentralizing and de-risking global supply chains, freeing agricultural land from color crop production and building resilience against climate and geopolitical disruption.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) -Science News: A Sulfur Exoplanet. What It Means for Extremophile Life
(00:03:45) - Is Biotech Winter Over? New IPOs and the Industrial Biotech Outlook
(00:08:45) - Introducing Gerit Tolborg and the Chromologics Origin Story
(00:10:15) - Discovering Novel Fungal Pigments During a PhD in Denmark
(00:13:15) - How Fermentation Produces a Tasteless, Odorless Red Pigment
(00:16:30) - Color Vibrancy, Purity, and Competing with Synthetic Dyes
(00:19:00) - Building a Mission-Driven Team in the Post-COVID Purpose Economy
(00:20:45) - Color as the Forgotten Ingredient and Main Purchase Decision Driver
(00:23:00) - Navigating FDA and EU Regulation for Novel Food Colors
(00:25:45) - The GMO Perception Gap Between Europe and the US
(00:27:30) - Scaling Fermentation: Downstream Processing and Cost Realities
(00:30:15) - Cost-in-Use vs. Kilo Price: The Real Economics of Bio-Based Color
(00:34:15) - Target Markets: Meat, Bakery, Dairy, Cosmetics, and Beyond
(00:37:15) - Clean Labels, E-Numbers, and Naming a Novel Ingredient
(00:42:00) - Quick Fire Round and Host Takeaways
