FeruliShield™ Hemp: A New Chapter in Biobased Skin Care Innovation

By Elena Chaikin

At Midwest Bioprocessing Center, we like ingredients that make sense.  Clean beauty should be transparent. Not vague. Not overly complicated. Not wrapped in marketing language until nobody knows what the ingredient actually does.

That idea is part of what shaped our iActive™ brand from the beginning. The ingredients we develop are meant to be presented clearly and factually to formulators, chemists, and personal care brands. If an ingredient is going into a skin care or sun care product, there should be no confusion about what it is, how it works, and why it matters.

That is also the thinking behind FeruliShield™ Hemp, the newest addition to our FeruliShield™ line of feruloyl glycerides.

And now, we are proud to share that FeruliShield™ Hemp has been recognized as a 2026 C&T Allē Award winner in the Cosmetic Active: Skin Care and Sun Protection category.

Building on the FeruliShield™ Platform

FeruliShield™ was originally developed to solve a real formulation problem.

Ferulic acid is well known in personal care for its antioxidant and photoprotective properties. It is often used alongside sensitive active ingredients, such as vitamins C and E, because it can help protect against oxidative stress and UV-related degradation.

The problem is that ferulic acid is not always easy to formulate. It is acidic, not naturally water- or oil-compatible, and can be difficult to incorporate into personal care systems in a stable and elegant way. That limits how formulators can use it, even though the molecule itself has meaningful benefits.

FeruliShield™ was created to improve that situation. Using a natural enzymatic process, we link a ferulic acid moiety to natural triglyceride oils. This creates feruloyl glycerides: stable, lipophilic molecules that combine the antioxidant and SPF-boosting properties of ferulic acid with the formulation advantages of natural oils.

Our earlier FeruliShield™ products used oils such as soybean oil and coconut oil. These gave formulators different options depending on the type of product they were developing.

But we wanted to keep building.

Why Hemp Seed Oil?

Hemp seed oil was a natural next step.

In personal care, hemp seed oil is valued because it is lightweight, nourishing, and widely recognized as non-comedogenic, meaning it is not likely to clog pores. That matters for modern skin care, especially for formulators working on products intended for acne-prone, sensitive, or everyday-use skin care applications.  A heavy or pore-clogging oil can create limitations. A lighter oil gives formulators more flexibility.

Hemp seed oil also has a strong fatty acid profile and a pleasant skin feel, making it useful in a range of cosmetic applications. It fits well into the clean beauty conversation without needing to be over-explained or over-hyped.

It is an oil people recognize, but it also has real formulation value.

That made it a strong candidate for the next version of FeruliShield™.

What Is FeruliShield™ Hemp?

FeruliShield™ Hemp is the hemp seed oil version of our iActive™ line of feruloyl glycerides.

It combines the skin-compatible properties of hemp seed oil with the antioxidant and photoprotective properties of ferulic acid. The result is a multifunctional, oil-compatible ingredient designed to support modern skin care and sun care formulations.

In simple terms, FeruliShield™ Hemp helps formulators get more out of ferulic acid by making it easier to use.  It is designed to support:

• Antioxidant protection

• SPF boosting in sun care systems

• Photostability of sensitive actives

• Oil compatibility and formulation elegance

• Non-comedogenic, skin-friendly formulation goals

  
  

This is especially useful in systems where formulators are trying to balance performance, sustainability, and skin feel.

Why Non-Comedogenic Matters

The non-comedogenic nature of hemp seed oil is one of the reasons FeruliShield™ Hemp is especially relevant for skin care.

Consumers want products that feel good and perform well, but formulators know how much work goes into that balance. A product can have strong active ingredients and still fail if the sensory profile is wrong, if it feels too heavy, or if it does not suit the intended skin type.

Hemp seed oil gives FeruliShield™ Hemp a lighter, more skin-compatible base. That makes it a practical option for products where formulators want antioxidant support without adding a heavy oil profile. This can be useful in facial skin care, daily wear products, sun care, and other formulations where elegance and skin compatibility matter.

A Practical Ingredient for Modern Formulation

FeruliShield™ Hemp was not developed as a trend ingredient. It was developed because formulators need tools.

Modern personal care products are being asked to do more than ever. A single formulation may need to support skin feel, antioxidant protection, photostability, sustainability goals, and compatibility with other active ingredients.

That is a lot to ask from one system.

FeruliShield™ Hemp is one way to help solve that puzzle. It brings together a recognizable natural oil and a high-value antioxidant molecule through a biobased enzymatic process.

It is straightforward science with practical formulation value.

Recognition from the C&T Allē Awards

The C&T Allē Awards recognize innovation in cosmetic science, ingredients, formulations, and technologies. To have FeruliShield™ Hemp recognized in the Cosmetic Active: Skin Care and Sun Protection category is meaningful because this category sits exactly where the ingredient was designed to work: at the intersection of skin care performance, sun care support, and active ingredient functionality.

For us, the award reflects the direction we believe personal care innovation should continue moving: toward ingredients that are scientifically developed, easier to formulate, and more responsible from a sustainability perspective.

FeruliShield™ Hemp represents that direction. It combines biotechnology, natural feedstocks, and formulation practicality in one ingredient.

What Comes Next

At Midwest Bioprocessing Center, FeruliShield™ Hemp is part of a larger mission: using bioprocessing technologies to create high-value biobased molecules for human health, nutrition, and personal care.

We will continue expanding the FeruliShield™ platform and exploring new ways to help formulators improve performance, stability, and sustainability in finished products.

Clean beauty should be clear. Biobased ingredients should be functional. And innovation should make a formulator’s job easier, not ha rder.

That is what FeruliShield™ Hemp was built to do.

FeruliShield™ Hemp is now available for sampling.