Michroma, CJ CheilJedang to Scale Fermented Natural Colours, Starting with Red Dye

Californian natural colourant startup Michroma has teamed up with South Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang to scale up its fermentation-derived red dye for food and cosmetics.

As artificial dyes get phased out of the food system, manufacturers and consumers alike are looking for natural colouring options that aren’t linked with health or planetary risks.

In July, a survey by Nielsen found that 68% of Americans supported the removal of artificial colourants from food and drink products, a sentiment only heightened by the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ban on Red Dye No. 3, a petroleum-derived hue shown to be carcinogenic in rats.

The decision sparked a rollercoaster effect, with many Big Food players announcing a shift away from synthetic colours in their products, including Nestlé, Mars, Kellogg’s, and General Mills.

Natural dyes have never been hotter, and while ingredients like turmeric and beet juice have always been available, the real opportunity lies with bio-based options that leverage fermentation. One of the leading players in this $4.8B market is Michroma, which uses precision fermentation to make clean-label colourants for food and cosmetic products.

The Californian startup has just signed a strategic partnership with South Korea’s CJ CheilJedang to expand the manufacturing of its natural red dye on a commercial scale and advance its regulatory efforts across markets.

“The partnership is global. By leveraging CJ CheilJedang’s manufacturing footprint across Asia (Indonesia, China, Malaysia, South Korea), the US, and Brazil, we’ll ensure a scalable and reliable supply chain that can serve multiple industries worldwide,” Michroma co-founder and CEO Ricky Cassini tells Green Queen.

How Michroma turns fungi into natural colours

Founded in 2019, Michroma employs a technology similar to beer brewing, which has for decades been used to produce insulin and rennet for cheese. It involves inserting a DNA sequence into microbes to teach them to churn out specific compounds upon fermentation.

“Using engineered filamentous fungi as production hosts, we create pigments in bioreactors under controlled conditions,” explains Cassini. The microbes secrete the colours into the media where they grow, which are filtered, dried and concentrated into a final product.

Its dyes can be used in a variety of applications, including plant-based meat, beverages, sweets, gummies, yoghurts and baking mixes.

“Our first product, a natural red, is not only sustainable, but also high-performance. Unlike many plant-derived colourants that degrade under stress, it delivers exceptional pH stability (remaining vibrant across acidic to neutral environments) and thermal stability (retaining colour even after pasteurisation, baking, or extrusion),” says Cassini.

“These properties open applications where traditional natural colours fail, making it a true drop-in replacement for synthetic dyes in demanding food, beverage, and cosmetics categories.”

He adds that the process is inherently scalable, which is where the partnership with CJ CheilJedang comes in: “It can be replicated across CJ’s global industrial fermentation facilities, ensuring consistent, large-volume production without the variability of crop-based supply chains.”

The Korean giant’s geographically diverse operations will help Michroma ensure a steady, scalable and reliable supply chain to meet the growing demand for natural colour solutions in food, beverage, cosmetics, and other industries. “CJ’s global-scale infrastructure enables us to move beyond pilot runs into true industrial capacity,” says Cassini.

Michroma bets on MAHA-driven shift away from artificial colours

The agreement between the two companies includes tech validation and other steps necessary for seamless production and distribution, opening up opportunities for Michroma to expand its portfolio.

“Red is the first, but we’re developing a full palette of natural, high-performance colours. Our R&D pipeline includes yellows, oranges, whites, blues, and beyond,” reveals Cassini.

“At launch, our goal is to achieve price parity with existing natural dyes, eliminating cost as a barrier to adoption. From there, by leveraging scale and process optimisation, we aim to become the most cost-effective natural option in the market, while delivering superior stability and performance,” he says.

“Michroma provides the proprietary biotech platform. CJ brings scale: global fermentation capacity, raw material procurement, and downstream processing. Together, we can commercialise quickly, reliably, and at the scale required by global CPGs.”

The partnership will also give Michroma’s regulatory effort a boost. “In the US, food colourants require FDA approval via a Color Additive Petition (CAP). In the EU, approval is through the EFSA’s Food Additive Petition process. In Asia and Latin America, approvals are handled by the respective national food safety agencies,” outlines Cassini. “CJ’s global regulatory expertise will help us navigate these processes efficiently.”

The startup has already raised $6.4M in funding, with investors including Dr Oetker, General Mills, and CJ CheilJedang. Now, it’s hoping to bank on the shift away from synthetic dyes, spearheaded by US health secretary Robert F Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.

“Consumers increasingly demand natural and sustainable ingredients, while regulators and policymakers are actively moving to phase out synthetic dyes,” says Cassini. “At the same time, major food companies are already making commitments: some have pledged voluntary phase-outs, while others – like Kellogg’s – have entered into legally binding agreements to remove synthetic dyes from their products.

“The MAHA initiative, championed by RFK Jr., amplifies this momentum by calling for both the removal of synthetic additives and the faster approval of natural and sustainable alternatives. These converging forces create the ideal tailwind for Michroma’s platform, designed to deliver scalable, high-performance natural dyes that can replace synthetics.”