Choline, used in a range of nutritional supplements, foods and infant formulae, is synthesised as a nature identical product meeting several pharmacopoeia.
Akzo Nobel's Functional Chemicals unit says it is facing higher production costs because of the new Food Chemical Codex (FCC), introduced in January, and United States Pharmacopeia (USP) regulations.
FCC V, the latest Food Chemical Codex regulation, does not allow the use of synthetic tartaric acid for the manufacture of choline bitartrate. As from 1 January this year, only L (+) tartaric acid is allowed as a raw material.
To comply with these latest standards, Akzo Nobel has developed and modified its production process, performs additional analysis and faces higher production costs, it said.
The prices will be increased with immediate effect or as existing contracts allow.