New site will produce FibAX®, a native soluble arabinoxylan fibre with research-backed gut health benefits, in a major commercialisation milestone for the ingredient.
ClonBio Foods will build a commercial-scale production facility for FibAX®, its native corn arabinoxylan fibre, at the company’s site in Dunaföldvár, Hungary. The investment will bring a fibre with differentiated gut health benefits to the global market at commercial scale after eight years of development, and the facility is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2027.
The new facility will be dedicated to producing fibres from grains, with FibAX® as its first product. The facility represents an expansion of ClonBio Foods’ Dunaföldvár ingredient production campus, which is already home to the company’s PurusPro® barley protein operation. ClonBio Foods currently makes the fibre at pilot scale, and the new facility will allow the company to produce it at commercial volumes for the first time.
FibAX® is a high-molecular-weight corn arabinoxylan, a prebiotic dietary fibre made up of arabinose and xylose molecules. ClonBio Foods isolates the fibre intact from the cell wall of the grain, preserving its natural length and native branched structure, which is why the company describes FibAX® as a native fibre. This unique structure determines how FibAX® is fermented by the gut microbiota and helps explain its slow, sustained activity in the gut.
“Arabinoxylan fibres have been studied for years and the science behind them is strong, but nobody has produced them at commercial scale in their native form,” said Enda Ryan, CEO of ClonBio Foods. “We have spent years working out how to make this fibre consistently and at high quality, and this facility takes it from a research-stage ingredient to one that brands can build premium products around. Moving to commercial scale lets us supply the volumes demanded by premium brands and products alike.
“For these premium brands developing gut health products, one of the biggest advantages is that FibAX® delivers meaningful metabolic activity at a low dose. That gives formulators more flexibility while still supporting the gut health outcomes consumers are looking for.”
Research shows FibAX® produces around three times more short-chain fatty acids than inulin over a 24-hour period, and it sustains that production for longer as it ferments further along the colon. Short-chain fatty acids support gut integrity and wider metabolic health, and FibAX® has also been shown to encourage the growth of beneficial gut bacteria without reducing overall microbial diversity.
The fibre has also shown promise for sugar reduction. In a controlled study of 53 participants, a cake reformulated with 1.5 per cent FibAX® achieved a 30 per cent reduction in sugar while producing a lower post-meal glucose response than standard and resistant maltodextrin versions.
Tolerance is also a key differentiator. “Many prebiotic fibres can cause bloating and discomfort at higher doses, which has always limited how much brands can include. FibAX® ferments slowly and is well tolerated even at higher doses,” Ryan said.
In a study at the Teagasc Moorepark Food Research Centre in Ireland, FibAX® produced far less gas than inulin and resistant maltodextrin, with up to seven times less gas at the three-to-six-gram doses typical of a daily serving.
“What further sets FibAX® apart is that it combines low-dose activity with strong tolerance, two things brands often struggle to achieve with prebiotic fibres,” Ryan said. “For brands focused on gut health, that combination is difficult to find.”
FibAX® is aimed at premium applications where gut health is the priority, among them dietary supplements, prebiotic and probiotic blends, functional beverages and functional dairy. It is also upcycled from corn bran, a co-product of ClonBio Foods’ grain processing, which supports brands looking to strengthen their sustainability credentials.
Ryan concluded: “We are starting to see strong demand across Europe and North America, as well as from Asian markets such as South Korea, where gut health and fermented foods are firmly part of the diet.”
ClonBio Foods sees the new facility as the foundation for scaling its fibre technology further in the years ahead.
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