The cuttlefish Sepia officinalis relies for defense on the ejection of a dark ink (commonly called sepia) which consists of a suspension of melanin granules in a viscous colorless medium. Besides large amounts of melanin, the ink also contains proteins, lipids, glycosaminoglycans, etc.
Cuttlefish ink is a traditional Chinese medicine listed in the Compendium of Materia Medica compiled by Shizhen Li, a famous doctor at the time of the Ming Dynasty, and first employed to treat heart pain, but modern clinical medicine has proven that it is a good hemostasis medicine that also provides significant curative effects in gynecology, surgery, and so on.
In recent years, the high nutritional and health benefits of cuttlefish ink have been increasingly recognized by the public. However, the uneven size and rough texture of squid ink particles have resulted in a large amount of cuttlefish ink being used as waste materials during the processing, which has not been effectively utilized, leading to the waste of marine resources and environmental pollution. To this end, the R&D team of Binmei Biotechnology has developed a comprehensive processing system that eliminates the fishy smell of cuttlefish ink, improves the purity of cuttlefish ink, refines particle size, and develops Binmei Biotechnology’s unique deodorized cuttlefish ink extract powder, achieving high-value utilization of cuttlefish ink.
Cuttlefish ink extract powder is refined from cuttlefish ink. The product presents a black powder, and Binmei Biotechnology uses unique technology to remove the fishy smell, resulting in the powder having no fishy smell. It has high nutritional value, can be used as a seasoning, and also has a certain medicinal value. It can also color food. It has good photothermal stability, making it relatively stable in food applications.
Various internet celebrities with black as the main color tone, such as coffee, hamburgers, ice cream, fried chicken, etc., have also exploded on online platforms, causing a “black storm” in the food industry. In addition, cuttlefish ink extract powder can also be used in fields such as sausages, meatballs, dumplings, buns, pastries, and sauces.
Binmei Biotechnology Cuttlefish Ink Extract
The ingredients of Binmei Biotechnology’s cuttlefish ink extract meet the requirements of cleaning labels and do not contain any preservatives. The cuttlefish ink extract powder ingredients are cuttlefish sac and maltodextrin, while the liquid product ingredients are cuttlefish ink, fructose, and water. Binmei Biotechnology has created separate production and packaging lines for its cuttlefish ink extract series products. Powder products can be provided in industrial packaging of 5kg/bag or 10kg/bag, as well as small packaging of 50g/bag or 100g/bag according to customer needs. Liquid products can be packaged in 5kg/barrel or customized according to customer needs, such as 100g/bottle for small packages.
Background research has shown that cuttlefish ink possesses a wide range of biological roles as it not only inhibits the activity of plasmin to promote thromboxane and elevates immunological competence to kill cancer cells to thus exert its anti-tumor effects [1], but it also has leukocyte-number elevating [2], anti-oxidant [3], anti-radiation [4], anti-retrovirus [5], and anti-bacterial properties [6].
1.Xie GL, He S. Study of sepia improving natural killer cell activity in mice. J. Chin. Med. Univ. 2002;1:23–24.
2.Sasaki J, Ishita K, Takaya Y, Uchiswa H, Matsue H. Antitumor activity of squid ink. J. Nutr. Sci. Vitaminol. 1997;43:455–461.
3.Lei M, Wang JF, Pang L, Wang YM, Chen SG, Xue CH. Effects of sepia on the metabolization of blood lipid and antioxidant ability in hyperlipidemia rats. Chin. J. Mar. Drugs. 2007;3:30–33
4.Lei M, Wang JF, Wang YM, Pang L, Wang Y, Xu W, Xue CH. Study of the radio-protective effect of cuttlefish ink on hemopoietic injury. Asia Pac. J. Clin. Nutr. 2007;16:239–243.
5.Rajaganapathi J, Thyagarajam SP, Edward JK. Study on cephalopod’s ink for anti-retroviral activity. Indian J. Exp. Biol. 2000;38:519–520.
6.Takai M, Yamazaki K, Kawai Y, Inoue N, Shinano H. Effects of squid liver, skin, and ink on chemical characteristics of “ika-shiokara” during ripening process. Bull. Jpn. Soc. Fish. 1993;59:1609–1615.
