The 2022 BON conference presented a lifetime achievement award to Mr José Torres to honour his remarkable career in the development of production techniques for the ingredients of supplements containing carotenoids and towards sponsoring research into their applications. Below are two photographs of José taken at the 2018 and 2022 conferences.
José Torres was born in December 1933 in Monterrey, Mexico, number six and eldest son in a family of eight. He studied Chemical Engineering at Monterrey Tech where he captained the American Football team for three years during which they won the Championship in two of them. After graduating in 1956, he did his M.Sc., also in Chemical Engineering, at the University of Wisconsin.
José formed his first company in 1956 and later he founded Industrial Orgánica, SA (IOSA) in 1966, followed by several other companies to support the work of IOSA. The company is involved in the research, production, manufacture and purification of Carotenoids, extracted from locally grown marigold plants, to produce high quality formulations for Human and Animal Nutrition. Under his leadership, IOSA has been granted 14 US and WIPO patents for several unique processes and formulations.
Dr Alan Howard first met José and his colleagues in the mid-1990s. They worked together with the research and clinical trials at WIT to uncover the function of Meso-Zeaxanthin within macular carotenoid products for the treatment of Age-related Macular Degeneration.