Pharmactive Biotech Products, S.L., which makes a clean label saffron extract branded as affron, has optimized product quality and concentration with a proprietary extraction process that maintains peak freshness and purity
 
According to the company, AFF ON Cool-Tech is gentle on the saffron plant—one of nature’s most fragile—safeguarding the potent actives in the saffron essence.
 
AFF ON Cool-Tech was specially designed, developed and patented by Pharmactive’s team of saffron extraction experts. “AFF ON Cool-Tech does not use harmful solvents, synthetics or additives of any kind,” said Jorge Rodríguez, head of production at Pharmactive. “It generates very low waste and considerably reduces the impact on the environment, minimizing the carbon footprint. The AFF ON Cool-Tech process requires less industrial processing than other saffron extractors, lowering the energy consumed—and all in fewer steps.”
 
The company claimed AFF ON Cool-Tech produces the highest concentration of saffron-sourced Lepticrosalides actives currently on the market, as tested and shown by HPLC-DAD (high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode-array detector). “Pharmactive is the first saffron actives supplier that can scientifically demonstrate how its products deliver outstanding beneficial/valuable properties at among the lowest recommended doses in the market (just 28 mg/day),” said Julia Diaz, Pharmactive’s marketing manager. “This is a powerful indicator of AFF ON Cool-Tech’s effectiveness.”
 
Saffron is among the most expensive botanicals in the world, which makes counterfeiting common. Pharmactive cultivates saffron in its own fields in the Spanish Castilla-La Mancha region, where Crocus sativus L. has been grown and nurtured for centuries.  
 
Pharmactive collaborates with select saffron farmers, whose craft has been part of their cultural heritage for centuries. Their seasoned knowledge of saffron and how to optimally produce and harvest it without chemical fertilizers is key to affron’s quality, the company said. The art of saffron harvesting requires manual picking of choice stigmas during a brief daily window of time.
 
Food-to-fork processing, including local extraction, efficient transport and strategic storage, gives Pharmactive complete control and traceability of the supply chain to retain peak freshness and product authenticity.
 
Affron saffron is standardized to Lepticrosalides, which is a complex of bioactive compounds that deliver affron’s clinically demonstrated beneficial health and organoleptic attributes. Pharmactive conducts comprehensive quality control analyses to confirm affron purity and concentration.
 
Pharmactive reaps the benefits of an exclusive three-step, low-temperature production process that creates highly concentrated, potent affron with long-lasting actives stability for up to 36 months.
 
1) Prepare raw material: Hand-selected pure Crocus sativus L. stigmas are mixed with simple natural compounds to create a liquid solution.
 
2) Extract and develop the concentrate: The extraction, concentration and purification of saffron stigmas at low temperatures and free of solvents is gentle on the actives.
 
3) Dry the product: The proprietary cool-temperature drying technique further conserves the actives.
 
To protect the actives from outside elements such as air, humidity and contamination during storage, Pharmactive uses a composite structure made of exclusive materials.
 
“Pharmactive’s AFF ON Cool-Tech production expertise, as well as its distinct saffron insights and agronomy partnerships are vital to creating a superior saffron extract backed by clinical research targeting cognitive health,” Rodríguez said.