Brief: Ocean Spray partners Brightseed to map ‘total health potential’ of cranberries

Disclosure: AFN’s parent company, AgFunder, is an investor in Brightseed.

• Massachusetts-based farmer cooperative and juice brand Ocean Spray and Californian biotech startup Brightseed have entered into an agreement which will see them collaborate “to decode the total health potential of the cranberry,” they said in a statement.
• Using Brightseed’s AI-powered platform, Forager, the partners will map and analyze the compounds present in cranberries, with the aim of producing “the world’s most comprehensive nutritional profile” of the fruit.

Why it matters:

“Similar to how different grapes produce different wine varietals, each cranberry strain can be extraordinarily diverse in their phytochemical composition, resulting in different colors, flavor nuances, size, [and] health-promoting bioactive compounds” said Katy Galle, senior vice president of R&D, Ocean Spray Cranberries.

“The insights from this agreement will support us as we continue to innovate healthy products for our consumers, in addition to informing how we grow, separate, and treat our cranberries to optimize for target health benefits and sustainability.”

Sofia Elizondo, co-founder and chief operating officer at Brightseed, said the “early findings” from the collaboration with Ocean Spray had demonstrated “how important crop diversity and growing practices are for bioactive content and expression.”

Earlier this year, Brightseed and Danone expanded the scope of their existing partnership to explore bioactive compounds in soybean and other crops amid the French dairy giant’s push into plant-based proteins.