Our history and mission

Mission

Realco/Realzyme’s main mission is to guarantee the well-being of people. Wherever hygiene is important, we are there to protect and improve their everyday health conditions:

• Ensuring the quality of the food they eat, whether home-cooked or prepared and eaten on site.
• Ensuring perfect hygiene in healthcare facilities, and in particular reducing the risk of hospital-acquired infection.
• Ensuring ideal hygiene in the home

Because we also care about future generations, Realco/Realzyme participates in sustainable development.

We at Realco/Realzyme are able to keep these promises because our technology is centered on enzymes. The enzymatic solutions developed by Realco/Realzyme far exceed the hygiene levels currently obtained by traditional chemical means. They optimize cleaning efficiency, for controlled, targeted, and—above all—more efficient disinfection. In addition, Realco/Realzyme’s latest exclusive innovations guarantee that all players in the food chain and in the healthcare sector can benefit from the detection and radical treatment of sources of contamination and infection.

Realco/Realzyme is also a dynamic contributor to sustainable development, promoting the well-being of future generations. In fact:

• Enzymes are 100% biodegradable.
• The surfactants used are of vegetable origin (renewable raw materials).
• Enzymatic solutions work efficiently while consuming less energy and water.
• The use of enzymes in cleaning solutions accelerates the water treatment process.

About Realco/Realzyme

Realco is a Belgian company based in the Louvain-la-Neuve science park. It is the world leader in the development, production, and sale of enzyme-based hygiene solutions and processes. Realco’s name has its historic origins in the company’s primary activity: REnovation en industrie ALimentaire et en COllectivités (renovation in the food industry and institutions). The slogan “enzymes for life” was added much later, when enzymes became the focus of the company.

Realco was founded in August 1968. For ten years, Realco’s main activity was simply to sell products (traditional detergents, disinfectants, and descalers), but then it embarked on research into the biological treatment of effluents. This work led to the creation of several ranges of products, in liquid or powder form, for the treatment of pipes, septic tanks, and grease traps.

In 1991, Realco was acquired by Gordon Blackman, who converted it into a joint stock company. He moved it to the Louvain-la-Neuve science park in 1995, to develop a research and development centre and to specialize in biotechnologies. Realco’s Research & Development department is constantly working to produce new products, improve manufacturing processes and develop new applications. The result of this research allows Realco to regularly release innovative products to the market which best meet the specific requirements of customers and consumers. Realco receives considerable approval and support from such scientific bodies as:

• Catholic University of Louvain (UCL)
• Free University of Brussels (ULB)
• University of Liège (ULg)
• KDG Antwerpen
• Gembloux University Faculty
• National Institute for Agronomy Research (INRA)

In 2006, Realco was listed on the Euronext stock exchange.

In 2009, Realco opened its US-based office operating as Realzyme.

Business Sectors

Realco’s enzymatic expertise serves four business sectors, all with a common need to reach high standards of hygiene in a ‘healthy’ way, i.e. with respect for humans and their environment.

Food industry

Food and beverage production plants, meal preparation companies, slaughterhouses, etc. can all benefit from Realco/Realzyme’s guarantee to the food industry:

• Reduced risk of food poisoning
• Increased compliance rate for finished products
• Extended shelf life of finished products
• Better management of waste water
• Contribution to sustainable development

Food service

Thanks to its enzymatic hygiene solutions, Realco/Realzyme ensures the quality of means in restaurants and institutions, and guarantees:

• Reduced risk of food poisoning
• Reduced cleaning time thanks to more efficient products
• Safer work environment as employees are using less aggressive products (neutral pH)
• Better management of waste water
• Contribution to sustainable development

Medical

The detergent quality of Realco/Realzyme’s enzymatic solutions makes disinfection more efficacious. The advantage of this technology in the hospital sector is obvious: to reach unprecedented standards of hygiene. By improving the cleaning and disinfection of surgical instruments and operating rooms, Realco/Realzyme guarantees that the risk of hospital-acquired infections is reduced. Other applications are still under development.

Realco has created a new company called OneLIFE S.A. on January 23, 2015 that is fully dedicated to the medical sector. For more information, contact info@onelife-bf.com.

Hygiene at home

The current home hygiene trend is towards disinfection. But is that really the best solution? Frequent use of certain disinfectant agents can promote bacterial resistance. This means that the more you disinfect, the more the bacteria develop a resistance to the disinfectants (the same way that this happens with antibiotics). Regular and effective cleaning limits the need for disinfection. The use of Realco/Realzyme cleaning products ensures optimum hygiene throughout the home.

A technology that is exported to the four corners of the world!

Realco’s products are sold in many European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Eastern Europe, etc.), but also in Japan, thanks to a partnership agreement with the companies Mitsui and Shikoku. In September 2009, Realco opened its office in the USA – Realzyme – to meet the expectations of the American market, which is more and more receptive to green technologies. Possibilities of significant growth have also been initiated in India, China and South America.