Biosteril® didn't exactly set out to be a cannabis service provider. The Swiss arm of the 105-year-old Kündig Group, it has spent most of its life in food, not flower. But when gamma irradiation started rubbing European cannabis patients the wrong way, the company realized something: it already had a cleaner, quieter, less controversial answer, and had been using it for over three decades: steam.
"We've been GMP certified since 2011," says Marc-Remo Kündig, who now runs the family company with his brother. "We'd already been sterilizing natural plants for traditional Chinese medicine and active ingredients. Cannabis wasn't much of a leap."
It started as a food-tech experiment. Biosteril® was collaborating with Bühler, the food-processing behemoth, on a project involving E-beam tech. That didn't pan out – at least not for food – but the R&D trials stuck around, and so did Kündig's curiosity. "I saw a video of a Parkinson's patient using medical cannabis and suddenly feeling better," he says. "It was fascinating."
A major German importer came knocking, and Biosteril® got to work adapting its sterilization process to cannabis flower. They leaned into what they knew – steam, pressure, temperature, and just started tinkering.
The result is a decontamination process that kills microbial content, mold, bacteria, the usual suspects, without significantly impacting terpenes or pushing the flower past decarboxylation thresholds. Client validations show log reductions in the safe range of 4 to 5 LOG. "It remains basically as it was," Marc says. "The smell, the structure, the feel – it's all still there. You wouldn't know it was treated." More importantly, it doesn't need to be labeled as irradiated. In Germany, where patients have become increasingly wary of anything zapped with gamma rays, that's no small deal. "Apparently, patients really don't like irradiated cannabis," Marc says. "So we researched, developed and adapted our technology and working parameters to safely reduce microbial contamination while keeping terpene levels at desired levels, without requiring a sticker or damaging the flower."
The tech itself is based on a classic autoclave, nothing revolutionary, at least on paper. But adapting it to cannabis required significant work: custom pressure and temperature curves, specific holding times, and calibrated thresholds all had to be developed to make the process cannabis-ready. "We're working well below decarboxylation," he explains. "And we can process up to 200 kilos per hour."
Biosteril® doesn't sell machines, they sell a service. They sterilize, they package, and they're currently building out co-packing facilities to handle both steps under one roof. The company is already operational in Germany and expanding into Portugal, with more to come. Their service is patent-pending and gaining traction, especially as more companies look for non-irradiated ways to get cannabis to market.
That commercial momentum has now been formalized into a dedicated structure. The Kündig Group announced the launch of Kündig Pharmaceutical Solutions® (KPS), an independent brand
that bundles the company's pharmaceutical expertise under its own roof. KPS offers the proprietary Biosteril® vacuum saturated steam process in full compliance with EU GMP Part I standards, complemented by additional processing services including homogenization and grinding. Timo Bongartz, who brings deep experience from the regulated cannabis sector, has been appointed Managing Director. "KPS combines the reliability of a family business that has grown over 100 years with the focus of a specialized pharmaceutical service provider," Timo says. "We don't just want to serve our customers, we want to accompany them." The new brand will make its public debut at the ICBC Berlin later this month, where the team will be at Hall 1, Stand 226.
"We get quote requests from everywhere," Kündig says. "But we're focusing on Europe for now – Germany, Switzerland, the UK. And soon Portugal." Their target market? Professional importers who want to meet GMP standards without alienating patients. "Steam isn't the only solution," Marc says, "but it's one people understand. And in this space, that kind of trust is key."
For more information:
Kündig
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