Additionally, due to the anti-oxidative properties of carotenoids, the OTC sector has become one of the fastest growing outlets for such products. Also, the feed area is still a large sector, demanding a whole range of carotenoids to color fish, broiler and eggs. Some of the carotenoids have been on the market for more than 20 years and are used extensively in food coloring. In recent years carotenoids have also gained outstanding importance in the nutraceutical and OTC field as many studies confirm their anti-oxidative properties and the effects on the health status of older people. In many industrialized countries, the population is aging, and with an increasing standard of living, the consciousness of health increases also, which drives the markets for products beneficial for health.
Carotenoids play an outstanding role in that sector.
Surprisingly, despite their enormous importance in food, pharma and feed, concise market information on carotenoids is not readily available. One of the reasons might be that the producing industry is relatively concentrated and companies are very secretive on carotenoids, as they still yield high turnover and profit rates. Most of the carotenoids are still produced by chemical synthesis. However, for some of them fermentation routes are already available, and may in the long run develop into the production technology of choice. Also, some of the carotenoids are extracted competitively from plants and are a constant threat to the synthetic analogous.