Olive Fruit Extract Opextan Gets GRAS Affirmed

The Opextan brand of olive fruit extract from Indena S.p.A. (Milan) has been self-affirmed GRAS, enabling its use as a food ingredient at daily levels up to 1,062 mg.

Opextan is a standardized olive extract from olive pulp. The ingredient is rich in olive polyphenols-including verbascoside, said by the company to be the most potent antioxidant from the olive tree- as well as hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, and isoacteoside.

The company says Opextan can now be used in products such as bakery items, beverages and beverage bases, chewing gum, coffee and tea, frozen dairy desserts and mixes, milk products, processed fruits and fruit juices, and processed vegetable and vegetable fruits.