Stratum Nutrition’s parent company, Novus International, Inc. has acquired the IQF Group, a Spanish producer of nutritional additives for the feed industry, as well as a range of carotenoids for foods, beverages and supplements. The Stratum Product Portfolio will be acquiring some of these carotenoids as new functional ingredient product offerings.

IQF's current portfolio of food ingredients consists of Betacol, a nature-identical beta-carotene, Canthacol canthaxanthin and Lutecol, a natural lutein product. Stratum Nutrition will keep these brands in place as they merge into the existing functional ingredient side of the portfolio.

"We are very excited about the addition of IQF's products and capabilities," said Jeremy Moore, director of marketing for Stratum. "Our strategy is to offer both functional ingredients, like carotenoids and minerals, for fortification and general health as well as specialty ingredients, like NEM and Artinia, to address condition-specific needs."

In addition to new products, the acquisition will expand the global reach of Stratum and its presence in foods and beverages. "IQF brings with it a strong base of business in Europe and Asia, primarily in foods and beverages. This compliments our efforts over the last several months, which have been targeted mainly toward the supplement industry in North America and Europe," Mr. Moore stated.