NEW PATENTED PROCESS FOR OLIVE POLYPHENOL EXTRACTION BENEFITS CONSUMER, ENVIRONMENT 

Hayward, CA, December 2002— After a decade of scientific research indicating that nature’s most potent antioxidant – hydroxytyrosol – lies within the olive, CreAgri is the first company to develop a patented process, called Integrale™, to harvest it from olive vegetation water and offer it for sale.  CreAgri generates the antioxidant-packed raw material as a liquid, powder and olive oil emulsion for use in supplements, functional foods, cosmetics and other applications. 

The Integrale™ method, developed by Dr. Roberto Crea, founder and chief scientist of CreAgri, Inc., and other Italian scientists and other Italian scientists, represents a significant departure in olive processing. Traditionally, olive oil production involves crushing olives, including the pits, to produce a thick paste. During this procedure, the crushed olives are continuously washed with water. The paste is then mechanically pressed to squeeze out the oil content. In addition to providing olive oil, the pressing also squeezes out the paste’s water content – known as “ vegetation water,” a process known as “malaxation.” Both the pit and the pulp of olives are rich in water-soluble polyphenols that wind up in the vegetation water, however the phenols in the olives are responsible for many of its health benefits, while the phenols in the pit show poor antioxidant activity and are of a polluting nature. Therefore, until now the vegetation water was regarded as a waste product and had to be treated and disposed of accordingly. In other words, we were throwing away the baby with the bath water. 

CreAgri’s Integrale™ process, however, completely revolutionizes olive processing by first removing the pits before pressing. Therefore, the beneficial antioxidant polyphenols such as hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein do not become contaminated with pit impurities.  In the next proprietary step, CreAgri processes the polyphenolic-rich olive water with citric acid, which protects against air oxidation and helps in releasing the hydroxytyrosol from its precursor oleuropein and other large molecules. The resulting liquid is then formulated as HIDROX™ and is available as powder, liquid and olive oil emulsion. 

CreAgri’s proprietary processes not only deliver health benefits to the consumer in the form of a superior antioxidant raw material, but is also environmentally friendly to produce. Previously olive water was considered “waste” that needed to be treated and disposed of accordingly. In fact, disposal of olive vegetation water has been costly and problematic for the industry. In Italy alone, more than 800,000 metric tons per year of waste water is produced from the olive oil mills, resulting in serious financial and environment problems for its disposal. The European Community still recognizes the olive oil waste water as one of the major polluting causes for the environment.  

Because the Integrale™ process removes the pits from the olives before processing, what was once waste matter becomes transformed into a health-promoting ingredient. This unique process is protected by two US patents: 6,197,308 and 6,165,475. 

Another environmentally friendly aspect of the CreAgri process is that the company uses only 100% organic olives – grown on their own organic olive ranch in the heart of California wine country – to create HIDROX™. And while it is common to use chemical solvents in extracting natural compounds, the Integrale™ process and all of CreAgri's preprietary processes are completely natural and solvent-free. The end result is a totally natural, completely pure material that supports health and well-being while contributing to planetary wellness. 

CreAgri is committed to promoting human health and well being through the creation of superior natural products. The company focuses on the development of science-based processes that are environmentally friendly and compatible with sustainable agricultural methods. CreAgri’s headquarters are in Hayward, California. The olives grown on the company’s own organic olive ranch are carefully processed within 24-48 hours of harvesting. 

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