Ingredients for an Era of Challenge and Change

Consumers place plenty of demands on food manufacturers today as they scrutinize food labels and the ingredients in products more than ever. This emphasis on clean label ingredients and minimally processed food products has led food manufacturers to remove artificial ingredients or those that consumers think are “chemical”- sounding and reformulate products using ingredients derived from natural sources like fruits, grains, and spices. The overarching theme of clean label encompassed most of the ingredient manufacturers at the IFT16 expo, who offered naturally derived ingredients such as hydrocolloids to replace gelatin, natural colorings to replace FD&C colors, and spices and vinegar powder to replace nitrites in meat products.

 

In addition to ingredients that meet clean label formulation requirements, there are those that help food manufacturers develop foods with less sugar, healthier fats, and more protein. This is important, especially in the areas of sugar and fat. The amount of added sugar will be required on the updated Nutrition Facts labels, giving label-reading consumers another factor to judge food products, and manufacturers continue to look for alternatives to partially hydrogenated oils. Innovations in the areas of sugar, fat, and protein include next-generation plant-based sweeteners for sugar reduction with less bitter aftertastes, fats from novel sources like microalgae that boast very high levels of monounsaturated fat, and a variety of legume powders and derivatives for protein enhancement.

No matter what ingredient was needed to formulate label-friendly products, ingredient manufacturers at the IFT16 expo had it available. If you missed the food expo, don’t worry though. What follows is a recap of some of the key ingredient offerings and product concepts showcased at the event. For more information, read Linda Milo Ohr’s article that begins on page 88 and details some of the ingredients that promise to help enhance the nutritional quality of foods and beverages. Check out the IFT16 News online show daily (news.ift.org), which includes stories about ingredient exhibitors and video interviews with experts in certain ingredient categories. Most important, though, is to make sure to attend IFT17 June 25–28, 2017, in Las Vegas to experience the latest and most exciting advances in ingredient development.

Concepts Combine Clean Label, Nutrition
With a broad portfolio of ingredients and expertise across multiple product categories, Ingredion, Westchester, Ill. (ingredion.us), showed attendees how to “turn ideas to solutions” at its interactive innovation stations.

Each station focused on one of three top food and beverage trends: clean and simple, health and nutrition, and sensory experience. Attendees spoke one-on-one with Ingredion experts to learn more about how the company’s flours, starches, gums, sweeteners, pulses, and fruit and vegetable ingredients from Kerr Concentrates, Salem, Ore. (kerrconcentrates.com), address these trends. For example, Ingredion’s NOVATION functional starches are clean label texturizer solutions, ENLITEN Reb A stevia sweetener is a naturally derived way to reduce sugar, and PRECISA texture systems replace dairy fats, oils, and vegetable solids while providing acceptable mouthfeel.

For the IFT16 expo, Ingredion developed almost three dozen product concepts and components, including various beverages, desserts, and snacks. Some of the highlights included a Spicy Sweet Potato & Peanut Soup made with a functional native starch and fava bean flour, a Red Berries Frozen Sangria Base that featured strawberry, Marion blackberry, and red raspberry purees from Kerr Concentrates, and a Black Sesame Cashew Beverage fortified with a liquid prebiotic soluble fiber and sweetened with stevia. The Halo-Halo product concept was made up of several components (crème caramel flan, coconut gel shreds, mango gel cubes, pandan gel cubes, and purple yam ice cream). Each of these was composed of Ingredion ingredients that contributed to different types of texture and mouthfeel, such as soft gel, smooth, full mouthcoating, and creamy, while fruit and purees and concentrates from Kerr Concentrates provided flavor and color. The Veggie, Chicken, and Faba Fritter Patty Sandwich featured a patty made from fava bean protein concentrate for added nutrients and a functional native starch to increase water holding during the cooking process. The gluten-free roll was formulated with a gluten-free modified bulk flour system that provided the functionalities of wheat flour and a resistant starch that has benefits for blood sugar management.

Expanded Ingredient Portfolio Addresses Trends
At one point in the not-so-distant past, ADM, Decatur, Ill. (adm.com), was mostly defined by its oilseed and grain ingredients. Not anymore, said Lesley Nicholson, manager, who explained that the company has made “very strategic, purposeful acquisitions that are filling out our product line.”

She added that this expanded range of ingredients now addresses the new food marketplace that has changed with the evolution of the Internet and social media. “People now know food, they know what’s in food, they’re expressing what they want in their food, and we need to have the choices available to offer our customers so that they can respond to those consumer needs.”

ADM developed a number of product concepts—from a Gluten-Free Salted Caramel Brownie Thin and Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Chilled Soup to Organic Rosemary Lemon Twist Tea and Sugar-Free Mango Tango Gum—that featured ingredients from the company’s increasing range. The product concepts showcase the depth of the company’s ingredient portfolio and can give a better understanding of trends, said Julio López Cintrón, nutrition research and innovation manager. He pointed to a Spiced Apple Drinkable Yogurt with Immunel blended with fruit juice that can appeal to consumers looking to increase their protein intake. A beverage like this is also positioned as satiety-promoting and immunity-enhancing thanks to the addition of a fiber ingredient and an ingredient to build up the immune system. “On an overall basis we’re seeing that people want their food to do more for them,” said Nicholson. “You don’t just want a good-tasting protein shake, you want some added health benefits, you want function. If you are going to consume the calories, you want those calories to do something for you.”

Earlier this year, ADM acquired Harvest Innovations, Indianola, Iowa (harvest-innovations.com), a manufacturer of minimally processed, expeller-pressed grain, legume, and oilseed ingredients like soy chips, soy flour, textured vegetable protein, flours, and pastas. In addition, the ingredients are gluten-free, organic, and made from sources that are not genetically modified. Pasta is one of the company’s specialties, and three different pasta products were showcased. Red Lentil Linguini Pasta, Ancient Grain Rotini Pasta, and Tri-Color Garden Pagoda Pasta were formulated with ingredients like lentil flour, teff flour, amaranth flour, dried beet powder, corn flour, and more from ADM’s and Harvest Innovations’ portfolios. Harvest Innovations’ chef even used ingredients from both companies to formulate three sauces to top the pastas.

Natural Alternative to Synthetic Antioxidants
Kemin, Des Moines, Iowa (kemin.com), introduced its oil-soluble GT-FORT green tea extract at the food expo. It’s the first plant extract that performs as effectively as TBHQ, a synthetic antioxidant frequently used as a preservative for unsaturated vegetable oils, said Courtney Schwartz, Kemin senior marketing communications manager. Kemin highlighted GT-FORT’s functionality in a thin wheat cracker prototype. The naturally sourced ingredient preserves the sunflower and soybean oil components and seasonings in the crackers, thus protecting taste and texture and extending shelf life. Kemin offers an array of naturally sourced plant extracts and antioxidants in the form of single ingredients, synergistic blends, and custom formulas to provide food safety, shelf stability, and color protection benefits.

Stevia-Based Sweetener Debuts
A new sweetener ideal for frostings, coatings, icings, and fondants gives confectioners and bakery product manufacturers a clean label option for reducing sugar. Erysweet+ Ultra is a proprietary blend of SteviaSweet 95-60 and Erysweet Non-GMO erythritol from Steviva, Portland, Ore. (steviva.com). In addition to its functions in frostings, fondants, and the like, the sweetener also works in tempering chocolate. Thom King, president, said that the problem with producing sugar-free chocolate is that it is difficult to temper. The Erysweet+ Ultra sweetener is said to tolerate heat past 250°F and fold into any hot or cold mix of ingredients. The ingredient is so fine in size that it can replace superfine powdered sugar. King distributed samples of small chocolate bars made with Erysweet+ Ultra and said that the ingredient did not impart any off notes to the chocolate like other stevia sweeteners can. Always innovating, King said that he expects to release new stevia-based sweeteners later this year.

A Focus on Non-Hydro Fats
AAK, Edison, N.J. (aak.com), developed several bakery product concepts with its nonhydrogenated and zero trans fat fats and oils to show how these ingredients can help solve formulation challenges. An artisan flatbread featured Cisao 7831 nonhydrogenated flakes that helped to improve the flakiness of the bread without the need for a traditional roll-in process. James Jones, vice-president of customer innovation, explained that a baker simply drops the palm-based shortening flakes in the mixer with the dough. What results, he said, is a “cell structure that looks almost like a croissant.” He added that it “provides the lamination without laminating equipment.” The ingredient also helps to keep the bread moist and tender while delivering the chewy texture typical of a fine artisan bread product.

An iced shortbread cookie was formulated with two Cisao ingredients. Cisao 8312 palm oil provided better machinability and process tolerance in the cookie dough while Cisao 8315 palm oil produced a frosting that had a pliable structure, making it easy to work with, and a longer shelf life with less moisture loss, cracking, and separation. Two cupcake product concepts featured EsSence 8643 canola oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil blend for a frosting with a long shelf life and good structure, and Cisao 8116, a blend of palm and soybean oils for a soft, moist cake. A benefit of the EsSence ingredient is that it is low in saturated fats. “In the past, a lot of the blends that would give you this type of creaminess were high in saturated fats,” said Mark Becker, vice-president of sales and marketing. “We’ve developed a process and a proprietary blend which gives that same functionality at much lower saturated fat levels.”

The company also announced that it now offers vegetable oils that do not contain genetically modified ingredients and that it acquired California Oils, a West Coast–based vegetable oils producer. The acquisition allows AAK to have oil manufacturing facilities on both coasts and in the middle of the country. “It offers duplicity, risk mitigation, business continuity as well as the ability to take our codevelopment approach to the marketplace out West where we haven’t really been able to do so with our current facilities,” said Becker.

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Tools for Tackling Texture Challenges
New clean label texture and stabilization ingredients from TIC Gums, White Marsh, Md. (ticgums.com), made their debut at IFT16. These new ingredients allow food manufacturers to meet specific labeling requirement such as organic or non-GM.

Each of the ingredients is formulated for specific applications: ice cream, dairy alternative beverages, and gummy applications. To replace monoglycerides and diglycerides in ice cream, TIC Gums offers Dairyblend Natural IC CL, a blend of acacia gum and other hydrocolloids that provides emulsification properties that monoglycerides and diglycerides contribute. In addition, the ingredient also provides moisture management and freeze-thaw stability that bulking agents usually supply in ice cream formulations. These added benefits mean that ice cream manufacturers can remove bulking solids like high fructose corn syrup and maltodextrin for an even cleaner label formulation and still have the functionality required to produce quality ice cream, said Corie Beyers, marketing communication manager.

Many milk alternative beverages are available today, and manufacturers are blending different types or adding ingredients like protein to give consumers more options. To help maintain shelf stability and prevent particulates from settling out of solution, TIC Gums developed Ticaloid Pro 181 AG. This acacia-gellan blend ingredient provides emulsification and smooth mouthfeel (from acacia) and stabilization (from gellan gum), said Beyers. Manufacturers can use the ingredient to remove stabilizers/emulsifiers like carrageenan and lecithin.

The final ingredient TIC Gums highlighted was Ticagel GC-564 S and its non-GM version, Ticagel Natural GC-581 B. This blend of hydrocolloids replaces gelatin in gummy applications like gummy candy and gummy vitamins. In gummy applications, gelatin has unique textural attribute that cannot be exactly replicated, said Beyers. Some are pretty close, like cohesiveness and hardness, while others are different, like springiness and toothstick/toothpack. The company works with customers to determine the most important textural attributes and then formulate accordingly. And some of those customers don’t seem to mind the differences in texture that Ticagel GC-564 S lends to gummy candy, such as a less “rubbery” texture and slightly more toothstick. Beyers remarked that many of the people who tried the gummy bear candy samples made with the ingredient said that they actually preferred them to ones made with gelatin.

Clean Label Functional Ingredients
Like many ingredient manufacturers developing clean label ingredient options, Kalsec, Kalamazoo, Mich. (kalsec.com), launched a line of clean label water-dispersible oleoresins that replace artificial and “chemical-sounding” ingredients. Simply Aquaresin oleoresins are made with emulsifiers that provide alternatives to soy lecithin and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides. The oleoresins in this line function as an emulsification system for oil- and water-dispersible naturally derived colors, flavors, and antioxidants. There are six varieties available: black pepper, capsicum, garlic, paprika, rosemary, and turmeric.

The clean label trend is definitely driving product development, and as an ingredient manufacturer, Kalsec is receiving more requests for clean label ingredients, said Gary Augustine, executive director of market development. At the food expo, Kalsec featured several other clean label ingredients that are part of its larger portfolio. Its Herbalox Rosemary Extract XT provides shelf-life extension properties with a much cleaner flavor than other rosemary-based antioxidants. Duralox Oxidation Management Systems combine rosemary and acerola cherry and rosemary and green tea to provide color stability in packaged fresh ground beef. The flavor systems and building blocks that are part of Kalsec’s Culinary Collections allow food manufacturers to add flavor experiences based on the latest global cuisine trends. They come in Indian curries, Mediterranean, Latin American, and Asian versions.

Brewed Tea and Coffee Add Customer Appeal
“We are the largest tea brewer and coffee brewer in North America,” said John Harper Crandall, vice-president of sales for Amelia Bay, Johns Creek, Ga. (ameliabay.com). “Everything is made, brewed, and formulated in the United States.”

Attendees had the chance to sample several different beverages made with the company’s brewed tea and coffee. Beverages like the organic matcha green tea with pineapple and mango and organic cold-brewed coffee with caramel addressed several key trends like the growing interest in matcha green tea and cold-brewed coffee that have shaped the beverage industry, said Crandall. Two other beverages served at the booth included organic premium brewed black teas—one lightly sweetened and the other unsweetened.

With clean label demands growing, Crandall says that the brewed tea and coffee that his company produces allows manufacturers to simply declare brewed coffee or brewed tea on their labels. Manufacturers often use the brewed tea and brewed coffee from Amelia Bay to create beverages with their own signature flavors, and the way the tea and coffee are produced means that there is no cloudiness or sedimentation, said Crandall. A continuous closed brewing system ensures that volatile aromas and flavors are captured for a true tea and coffee flavor and aroma without the use of flavorings, extracts, and top notes.

Ingredient Portfolio Addresses Top Concerns
Experts from Cargill, Minneapolis, Minn. (cargill.com), were on hand to discuss their research and ingredient development efforts in several key areas affecting food production. Janice Johnson, food applications leader for Cargill Salt, spoke about her current research on understanding how the size and shape of salt crystals can be used to help manufacturers lower the amount of sodium in applications while maintaining acceptable salty taste. Cargill has already had success in this area with topical applications. For these applications, its Alberger flake salt—multifaceted crystals with a hollow pyramid shape, large surface area, and low bulk density—can provide a salty taste with less sodium. Currently, Johnson and her team are conducting studies on how salt crystals of different shapes and sizes dissolve in dough for crackers. So far they have seen differences in the rate at which salt dissolves. Ideally, for cracker applications, the salt flakes can be used in the dough and as a topping to help give an overall sodium reduction but still maintain the salty taste consumers expect, said Johnson.

Sweeteners is another ingredient category that Cargill has a great deal of expertise in, and Andrew Ohmes, product line manager, starches and sweeteners North America, explained that Cargill has a range of sweetener ingredients to meet many of the challenges that developers face when reducing sugar in applications. One ingredient—stevia—has evolved in recent years. “Cargill has been in stevia since the beginning in the United States,” said Ohmes. “The initial focus was really on tabletop and beverage and now it’s really pushing beyond that. It’s driven by the sugar-labeling laws and the external pressures that brand managers are facing.” The company offers ViaTech, which was developed from a proprietary taste prediction model that determines the combination of stevia glycosides that deliver the most sweetness with the least amount of bitterness in specific applications, said Ohmes. Another sweetener, EverSweet, is produced using a fermentation method. The stevia glycosides reb D and reb M do not have the bitter aftertaste that reb A has, but unlike reb A, reb D and reb M are rare in the stevia leaf. The fermentation method Cargill uses produces molecules identical to the reb D and reb M found in the stevia leaf, according to the company.

The final area that Cargill highlighted was examining how ingredients can bring multiple functional benefits to foods and beverages. Sharrann Simmons, senior business manager, life sciences, Nagase America Corp., New York (nagaseamerica.com), was on hand to explain how her company, along with Cargill, was promoting Nagase’s Treha trehalose as an ingredient that provides flavor, texture, and freshness benefits to products. Trehalose is a disaccharide found naturally in mushrooms, yeast, and honey, but since it is costly to extract it from these sources, Nagase uses a proprietary enzymatic process to produce trehalose from starch for its Treha ingredient. “It is a carbohydrate, but we like to position it as a performance ingredient,” said Simmons. In a grapefruit beverage concept distributed at the Cargill booth, the ingredient helped to reduce the astringency of the grapefruit and mask the off-flavors from stevia. Cargill is the exclusive distributor of Treha in the United States and Europe.

Eggs Get Top Marks in Studies
The 2015 avian influenza outbreak decimated a great portion of the poultry supply and, in turn, the egg supply, leaving food manufacturers scrambling for alternatives to eggs in their formulations. Eggs provide multiple functions to applications, particularly baking, and when they are removed or reduced in formulas, egg replacers made from any number of ingredients have to stand in. “At that time, egg replacers became available but there was nothing that really showed what worked and what didn’t,” said Shelly McKee, technical advisor for the American Egg Board, Park Ridge, Ill. (aeb.org). That’s why CuliNex, Seattle, Wash. (culinex.biz), a clean label product development consultancy, with funding from the American Egg Board, conducted a series of tests on eight applications in the baking category that compared the functionality and performance of real egg products with egg replacers.

“Egg replacers are difficult to work with,” explained Lesley Werblin, culinologist/food scientist at CuliNex. “They take a lot of time and effort from the R&D side to use them in applications. Every egg replacer is different and every blend of egg replacers is different, and they may not correlate across applications—something that may work OK in a yellow cake may not work in a cookie.”

The results showed that while some of the egg replacers fared better than others in each of the eight bakery applications, overall, real eggs outperformed egg replacers across the board. By providing results of analytical tests and sensory evaluations, along with visual comparisons, the researchers have given manufacturers specific information about egg and egg replacer functionalities and how they compare in popular bakery applications. “It’s very important for product developers trying to reduce or eliminate eggs to really understand how it’s going to work in their particular applications and in their particular formula,” said Werblin. “Not all brownies are created equal. There are chewy brownies, cakey brownies, and fudgy brownies, and those are not the same, and eggs play different roles in each of those different formulas.”

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Brown Flavors Enhance Indulgent Prototypes
With 27 different product concepts—nine served on each day of the IFT16 expo—Prova, Montreuil Cedex, France (prova.fr), demonstrated its expertise in vanilla, coffee, cocoa, and much more. It also gave the company the opportunity to feature other naturally derived flavor ingredients.

With product concepts such as Coconut Chai Flavored Milk Chocolate, French Marshmallow Flavored Beverage, Pecan Pie Flavored Cereal Bar, and Christmas Stollen Flavored Beverage, the company showed its flavor and extract development capabilities in areas such as brown flavors and dessert flavors, said Marie Le Beller, application laboratory manager. In addition to these flavors, Prova developed alcohol flavors like whiskey. Earlier this year, the company expanded its whiskey flavor ranges to include four profiles that can impart basic bourbon flavor notes or peaty, smoky notes, among others. Product concepts like Irish Coffee Flavored Beverage, Bourbon Brown Butter Flavored Milk Chocolate, and Bourbon Black Forest Cake Flavored Beverage featured the alcohol flavors.

With all of the product concepts, Prova wanted to address on-trend flavors, indulgent flavors, and layering flavors, said Beller. The flavors themselves are often multidimensional such as the marzipan flavor used in a Marzipan Flavored Cereal Bar. This flavor, said Beller, imparted almond and woody notes with a hint of cherry to the beverage. The tiramisu flavor used in a Tiramisu Flavored Cereal Bar contributed coffee, cocoa, and rum notes.

Coffee and Tea: Beverages and More
S&D Coffee & Tea, Concord, N.C. (sdcoffeetea.com), presented product concepts formulated with its tea and coffee extracts, tapping into such trends as cold brew coffee and matcha tea-flavored confections and beverages.

Cold brew coffee offerings included a cold brew iced coffee beverage and cold brew soft-serve ice cream. The ice cream, made with the company’s 100% Arabica coffee extract (cold brew), was the most popular concept at the booth, said Erin Slater, marketing associate. The sweetness of the ice cream paired well with the rich, roasted, slightly bitter notes of the cold brew coffee extract.

Matcha tea, with its bright green color and distinctive grassy flavor, is turning up as a flavoring in foods and beverages. Consumers can often find it formulated into cakes and candy. S&D Coffee & Tea created matcha white chocolate almond candy with its matcha green tea extract. The extract was also featured in a matcha green tea latte.

Some of the other beverage product concepts that the company developed were a ginger ale infused with chai tea extract, cookie butter– and Mexican chocolate–flavored frappes, and an espresso milk shake made with almond milk. Chai tea is a popular tea flavor, and the frappes showed how the company’s extracts can be paired with indulgent flavors, said Slater. Nitrogen coffee, which is described as having a smoother, creamier finish thanks to being run through a nitrogen tank, continues to have its followers. S&D Coffee & Tea served nitrogen-infused draft coffee made with a choice of Colombian, East African, or Guatemalan coffee extracts. Finally, flavored milk beverages made with Milk Splash flavorings rounded out the product concept lineup. The flavorings are naturally derived and do not curdle the milk or settle out of solution and can be added to milk, milk shakes, and steamed milk.

Add Sweetness, Boost Savory
Enhancing sweet and savory tastes was the focus of product concepts distributed at the booth of Ajinomoto North America, Itasca, Ill (ajiusa.com). The company claims that its Advantame high-potency sweetener can partially replace caloric sweeteners and other high-potency sweeteners in foods and beverages while maintaining a clean sugar-like taste. It can also enhance flavors like dairy, fruit, citrus, mint, and more and mask off notes from added proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Samples of Strawberry Lemonade Quencher and Aloha Sugar-Free Pineapple Candies featured Advantame. As far as savory taste is concerned, the company used various soy sauces and tamari soy sauces from its San-J sauce portfolio to give a rich, salty taste to fried rice and sautéed mushroom samples and Savorboost yeast extract–based flavor enhancement systems to provide umami, kokumi, or both taste sensations to product concepts like a tomato cocktail, Cheddar cheese dip, ranch dressing, seasoned corn snacks, Cheddar cheese popcorn, Korean barbecue braised brisket, and tangy barbecue chicken. While these are all savory applications, the company did surprise attendees with the inclusion of umami- and kokumi-enhancing Savorboost in Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Pinwheels.

Asian Sauces Give Foods a Flavor Twist
Experts with Kikkoman Sales USA, San Francisco (kikkomanusa.com/foodmanufacturers), provided insights into how product developers can enhance flavor, eliminate gluten, decrease sodium, or add mouthwatering and craveable flavors to food products. Kikkoman’s Thai Style Chili Sauce, Gluten-Free Tamari Soy Sauce, and Preservative-Free Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce gave a peanut butter spread product concept layers of flavor from Thai cuisine while Dehydrated Soy Sauce KF-1 provided umami taste to a Korean BBQ seasoning blend used on potato chips.

Two edamame-based product concepts showed how other Kikkoman ingredients can give umami, savory, and fermented notes to protein-packed snacks. Gluten-Free Tamari Soy Sauce was added to the edamame cracker dough to boost umami taste. The soy sauce was blended with Kotteri Mirin and sprayed on the baked crackers for a sweet-savory glaze. The perfect accompaniment for the edamame crackers was a hummus made from edamame, Clear Soy Sauce, and traditional hummus ingredients. The transparent pale-amber color of the soy sauce had a minimal color impact on the light green-colored hummus.

Flavors of India
Bell Flavors and Fragrances, Northbrook, Ill. (bellff.com), featured flavors from one of its 2016 Spark flavor trends, The Well-Traveled Kitchen: India, in several street food product concepts. Indian cuisine is known for aromatic, flavorful food, and Bell captured some of the key flavors and aromas of the cuisine in product concepts like Bhel Puri (puffed rice/chickpea crisps served with cucumber mint raita and cilantro tamarind sauce) and Naan Pizza (naan topped with makhani sauce, Madras curry pimento cheese, and sweet and spicy mango chutney). Some of the key flavors used in these were tamarind, garam masala, cilantro, mango, and Madras yellow curry. For a sweet treat, Bell served four different versions of gola—shaved ice topped with flavored syrups—made with flavors like tamarind, cumin, orange, rose cardamom, saffron, coconut cream, chai, pineapple, and mango. Finally, the company formulated iced coffee with flavors inspired by Indian cuisine like Vanilla Cardamom, made with vanilla and cardamom flavors, and Indian Spice, made with tamarind, Indian spice, and cola flavors.

Ingredients Address Texture, Other Functions
Helping to improve texture and overall sensory characteristics of foods and beverages was the focus of ICL Food Specialties, St. Louis, Mo. (iclfood.com), as it demonstrated the capabilities of its ingredients in product concepts served at the booth and during an afternoon media event. Simply Delicious Hot Diggity Dog featured TARI COMBI PP 1, which helped maintain moisture in the meat, while a vegetarian version, Chicago Style “Not” Dog used ROVITARIS Protein System to develop the texture without the use of soy.

Peppy Pepper Poppers, cheese- and spice-rubbed chicken–filled jalapeño peppers topped with bacon crumbles, were formulated with several ICL ingredients for stabilization, moisture maintenance, and sodium reduction. Cheesy Brioche Besos, an egg-free brioche, was stuffed with cheese made with BEKAPLUS DP 110 for a smooth cheese with stretch. BEKABAKE EF 2 replaced egg while Levona Allegro calcium-based leavening acid system provided volume and texture in Va Voom Velvet Cake. The decadent frosting that topped the cake contained a protein-based emulsifier system called BEKAPLUS DP 302.

Finally, three beverages were served. Sodium was reduced with the use of Salona Sea Salt in a Prickly Pear Margarita. Cha-Cha Cinnamon Horchata remained stable after heat processing and had enhanced creaminess thanks to BEKAPLUS B 1210 and JOHA B50, respectively. A stable and clear whey protein ingredient, BAKAPLUS BP 900, boosted the protein level in Strawberry Limeade Slushy.

Building Flavor Depth
It was all about layering flavors for maximum appeal at Mizkan Americas, Mount Prospect, Ill. (mizkan.com), where product concepts featured combinations of Mizkan ingredients that lent spicy, acidic, and sweet flavor notes.

The Ponzu-Balsamic Glazed Prosciutto Wrapped Fig and Melon Bites featured a reduction of Mizkan’s ponzu and balsamic vinegar for a sweet-tart finishing sauce. A savory Green Chile Veggie Grilled Cheese Sandwich was made with Mizkan Diced Green Chile and Mizkan Pickling Vinegar. Mizkan corporate chef Guy Meikle explained how to build deeper sweet and acidic flavors in vegetables like beets, kohlrabi, and onions by poaching them in Mizkan Cooking Wine and Mizkan Organic Red Wine Vinegar. These vegetables were the base for a Light Farmers Market Vegetable Salad.

Another area that Mizkan specialized in is craft spirits, specifically offering denatured spirits. Craft spirits is definitely a trend on the rise, especially as more people are enjoying quality bourbon and craft beer, said Meikle. Product developers and restaurant operators have recognized this too by offering products and menu items formulated with alcohol or ingredients like Mizkan’s denatured spirits and calling it out in the product’s name. The company offers a line of eight denatured spirits, nonalcoholic triple sec, denatured porter ale, and Angostura bitters. Attendees were able to sample Bourbon-Red Jalapeño-Maple Glazed Fried Chicken Bites and Moonshine BBQ Glazed Baby Back Ribs.

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New Look Debuts
It’s a new brand identity for Virginia Dare, Brooklyn, N.Y. (virginiadare.com), which launched a modern logo and update to its broader capabilities in helping companies improve the taste of food and beverage products.

Two platforms now define those capabilities. The Taste Foundations platform includes the company’s vanilla, tea, coffee, and cocoa extracts and the work that the company does with farmers and suppliers in sourcing ingredients of the highest quality. The Taste Collaborations platform involves developing preferred taste in better-for-you and clean label products with flavors and systems for taste modulation and taste improvement.

Several product concepts aligned with the platforms. One in particular was the Spicy Chocolate Plant Protein Beverage. “Protein is still a trending nutrient,” said Robert Verdi, business director, health and wellness. The problem is that the protein ingredients can have off-flavor notes, especially when they are used at high levels. The beverage concept that the company formulated contained 20 g of plant protein from pea, rice, and hemp. “Sometimes when you formulate these better-for-you beverages and foods, some of the ingredients contribute off-flavors that are less than desirable, so we need to manage those with a flavor system,” said Verdi. The flavor of the beverage also received a boost from a spicy chocolate flavor. Verdi explains that this flavor was chosen over a more conventional one like milk chocolate to appeal to Millennial consumers looking for something more interesting.

Class I Caramel Color for Dark Brown Hues
To give manufacturers a minimally processed caramel color option, Sethness Products Co., Skokie, Ill. (sethness.com), highlighted its Darkest Class I Powdered Caramel Color SB245. One of the key characteristics of this caramel coloring is that it gives bakery products, soups, sauces, gravies, and more a darker brown color than traditional Class I powders, which have red hues. This particular caramel color that Sethness featured is part of a line of caramel colors that have been Non-GMO Project Verified. Brian Sethness, senior account executive, explained how more and more food manufacturers want ingredients that are not genetically modified, including caramel colorings.

Insights Into Color and Flavor Ingredients
Color and flavor are two qualities of foods and beverages that grab the attention of consumers. Sensient Technologies, Milwaukee, Wis. (sensient.com), presented the latest developments to help manufacturers color their products in a more label-friendly way and demonstrated its capabilities in understanding food and beverage trends and translating them into unique flavor ingredients.

A new heat-stable naturally derived red color from Sensient Colors, St. Louis, Mo. (sensientfoodcolors.com), allows product developers to create brilliant shades of red in neutral pH baking and dry grocery products like cookies, extruded cereal, tortilla chips, and red licorice. A standard beet-based coloring available to manufacturers is prone to browning during heat processing, and anthocyanins would turn purple in the 5–7 pH range. The source for the new coloring, SupraRed, is beet, which goes through a proprietary solvent-free, natural color technology to increase the heat stability of the final ingredient, said David Rigg, director of global food marketing for Sensient Colors. SupraRed can be labeled as vegetable juice or beet, and it can even qualify as a coloring foodstuff, he added. Application visuals that compared SupraRed with standard beet juice and Red 40 were available at the booth, as were samples of red velvet cookies made with SupraRed.

Moving onto the taste and flavor side of food product development, Sensient Flavors, Hoffman Estates, Ill. (sensientflavorsandfragrances.com), developed a number of product concepts featured over the three-day IFT16 expo for attendees to experience the latest in up-and-coming flavor trends. The theme was “Upscale, Downhome,” and Lauren Williams, marketing manager, beverage flavors, at Sensient Flavors, explained that this means that as consumers are starting to spend more and become more excited about food, they are experimenting with and trying “exotic” ingredients or treating themselves to something comforting and indulgent. The Honeyed Evergreen Pecan Diamond—pretty much a simple pecan bar but with unexpected layers of flavor—combined sweet nutty pecans with Sensient Flavors’ Natural Honeyed Evergreen Type Flavor. The flavor combines the earthy flavor of evergreen with the sweet notes of honey. Honeyed evergreen was one of several flavors named in the company’s Trends 2 Taste program that were included in product concepts at the IFT16 expo. Others were charred coconut (Charred Coconut Flavored RTD Coffee), urfa chile (Urfa Chile Hazelnut Fudge), cherry blossom (Cherry Blossom Pate de Fruit), and sassafras (Sassafras Spiced Sugared Fried Plantain Garnish).

Focus on Fiber and Grains
Fiber is an important ingredient for both the functionalities that it provides in food processing and its health benefits. Rajen Mehta, senior director of specialty ingredients at Grain Millers, Eden Prairie, Minn. (grainmillers.com), explained about how the company uses a proprietary specialty milling process to produce oat fiber in which the anatomical layers are left intact. This is important because it means that the insoluble and soluble fibers and beneficial phytochemicals are in the final oat fiber. It also helps the company meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s definition of dietary fiber as “intrinsic and intact,” said Mehta.

The company produces oat fibers in firm fiber, soft fiber, and higher absorption versions in extra-fine, fine, and coarse-grind sizes that are currently used in such commercial products as crackers, cereal, beverages, snack chips, bakery products, bars, and dips/spreads. Oat fiber contributes to the texture and moisture maintenance of these products and increases the fiber content.

Oat fiber is just one of many grain products that Grain Millers manufactures. Oats in a number of different forms are available, as are ancient grains, grain derivatives, and various forms of wheat, barley, triticale, corn, and rye. Both conventional and organic versions as well as gluten-free are supplied by the company. Mehta emphasized that its grain ingredients are minimally processed to maintain the natural goodness of the grains, something that is important to manufacturers looking for clean label ingredients.

Creating a World of Flavor
Dry-blending company Asenzya, Oak Creek, Wis. (asenzya.com), showcased its seasonings and sauces in two tasty dishes created by executive chef Dax Schaefer. A Bratwurst Banh Mi combined the flavors of Germany and Asia through its custom sauces, and Flautas with Mexican Dipping Sauces paired a spicy chicken filling with custom-made dipping sauces to provide a special taste of Mexico. At the booth, the company highlighted its capabilities, which include functional products, specialized seasonings, and product development work, and it also showcased its Trending Flavors white paper series, which provides insight into flavor trends around the world.

The Clean Label Power of Vinegar
Clean label is driving innovation, particularly in phosphate replacement, said John Arden, marketing analyst for Hawkins, Roseville, Minn. (hawkinsinc.com). A leader in antimicrobial systems, Hawkins offers lactates, diacetates, acetates, and vinegar that can control Listeria and pathogens, extend shelf life, improve food safety, and provide clean label options. The company’s e(Lm)inate DV dry vinegar is a clean label buffered vinegar powder that can be used to enhance shelf life and safety in fresh and ready-to-eat meat, poultry, and seafood and labeled as “vinegar.”

Meeting the Changing Needs of Consumers
Being adaptable to changes in the food industry landscape is an important step to maintaining success among ingredient manufacturing companies. “Kerry has been present in North America now for many years, but we’re very aware of the fast-changing pace of the marketplace that exists today and the diversity that exists in the marketplace,” said Michael O’Neill, president and CEO, North America, at Kerry, Beloit, Wis. (kerry.com). “As a result of trying to come to grips with how things have changed and how things are evolving, we have repivoted our organization in the last 18 to 24 months in the context of presenting ourselves to the marketplace as a taste and nutrition leader.”

The repositioning of its business model has allowed Kerry to offer its customers additional benefits to help them manufacture products for a diverse range of consumers. “We have a strong understanding of the consumer trends and preferences. We have a broad base of technologies built around the area of helping our customers with the proposition of taste and helping our customers on the proposition of nutrition,” explained O’Neill.

Part of the business model involves what O’Neill called “four pillars” that address top issues in the food industry: free-from (removing artificial ingredients or ingredients like gluten or lactose), better-for-you (reducing sugar, fat, and salt), good-for-you (fortifying products with protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and more), and tailored-for-you (developing products that address the health and nutritional needs throughout a person’s life stage). These are driven by what consumers are looking for in the marketplace, including in the area of taste. “We’re challenging ourselves in the context of taste and nutrition of how we can be relevant to help our customers to overcome those challenges to bring great-tasting products to the marketplace. The principle is that somebody will buy a product once because it was a good idea. They’ll buy a product twice because it tasted good the first time.”

The work will take place at the company’s new taste and nutrition discovery center located in its technology and innovation center in Beloit. Kerry food technologists work with customers to develop concepts that the customers can then take back to propose to their business teams, said O’Neill.

Several food and beverage product concepts showed how Kerry’s ingredients can help formulate products that are both tasty and healthful and address trends like indulgence, global cuisines, and flavor variety. The Brazilian BBQ Brisket Sandwich and Modern BBQ Brisket Sandwich concepts were flavor twists on traditional barbecue brisket, and Chocolatey Coconut Muffin and Campfire Crisp Trail Mix concepts featured trendy flavors like coconut and smoke. The Frozen Mango Passion Green Tea concept included naturally derived ingredients to meet clean label demands while the Berry Beet Blast contained an immune-boosting ingredient, Wellmune.

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Colorful Topping Adds Visual Appeal
With many consumers more label-conscious than ever, having a broad portfolio of naturally derived ingredients like Naturex, Avignon, France (naturex.com), offers is a big plus in today’s food and beverage landscape. “That’s why we are identified by our customers as a good partner because we offer natural colors, natural antioxidants, and a lot of other natural solutions,” said Nathalie Pauleau-Larrey, business manager. Simply put, Naturex has the expertise to help its customers make the switch to naturally derived ingredients, she added. These include antioxidants derived from rosemary, fruit and vegetable powders, colorings based on paprika, anthocyanins, curcumin, and more, and cold-pressed unpasteurized juice. (The company featured a Tart Cherry Veggie HPP beverage made with its unpasteurized, unfiltered carrot, vegetable, and beet juices.)

The newest ingredient in the company’s natural ingredient portfolio is NATcolor Sparkles, colorful sprinkles with a little bit of shine to them that can be used in topical applications such as cake decorations and snack chip seasoning blends, or as inclusions in chewing gums, panned confectionery, and hard-boiled candies. They come in two forms—flakes and paillettes—and in yellow, orange, red, green, blue, purple, and brown colors. Attendees were able to stop by an ice cream shop set up at one corner of the company’s booth to create their own ice cream sundaes, complete with the choice of NATcolor Sparkles as well as flavored flakes made from the company’s fruit powders and blue ice cream made with a spirulina-based coloring. This was a great way for Naturex to showcase its capabilities in naturally derived ingredients and, as Pauleau-Larrey said, consumers really enjoy the opportunity to customize their food.

Flavors for Taste Enhancement, Modulating
In the past, taste and cost often drove consumers to purchase one food product over another. Now, add natural to the mix, as consumers are scrutinizing food labels and calling on food manufacturers to reformulate products to contain naturally derived ingredients. “Finding the trifecta of well-tasting, natural, and reasonably priced can be difficult,” said Christian Kopfli, chief executive officer at FlavorHealth, North Brunswick, N.J. (flavorhealth.com). To help food manufacturers meet this challenge, the company has developed flavor ingredients from plant-based sources that improve the taste of better-for-you foods and beverages in a cost-effective way.

The company examines compounds in plant sources such as vegetables to identify those that have sweetness- or saltiness-enhancing or bitter-modulating properties to produce its FlavorHealth Sweet, FlavorHealth Salty, and FlavorHealth Bitter Balance ingredients. Kopfli added that the ingredients are labeled simply as “flavor” on ingredient statements.

Side-by-side comparisons of product concepts with and without the ingredients gave attendees the opportunity to experience the effectiveness of the ingredients. These included pea protein bars, where the FlavorHealth Bitter Balance modulated the strong vegetal notes of the pea protein, and 30% less salt Cheddar popcorn, where FlavorHealth Salty helped increase the salty and savory tastes and helped the flavors of the Cheddar cheese pop. To demonstrate the functionalities of FlavorHealth Sweet, food technologists from the company reduced the sugar to a 7-brix level in a carbonated beverage by simply using less sugar in the formula. They added FlavorHealth Sweet to bring the perceived sweetness to a level comparable to the standard 10 brix. While the beverage at the 7-brix level had reduced calories, it had a flat taste. The beverage with FlavorHealth Sweet had appropriate sweet taste and a rounder mouthfeel.

Naturally Better Color Solutions
Naturally derived color solutions with improved stability and other functionalities offer food manufacturers the opportunity to meet consumer demands for clean label products without artificial ingredients. DDW, Louisville, Ky. (ddwcolor.com), featured several coloring ingredients, including a blue coloring derived from spirulina that has increased light stability and Purple Corn Juice Concentrate for vibrant shades of red with neutral taste that is labeled as “vegetable juice for color.” Its EmulsiTech Clear Paprika and Beta-Carotene Natural Color Emulsions are produced with a naturally derived emulsifier system and naturally derived colors to provide clear shades of yellow, orange, and orange-red that have excellent heat, light, and acid stability in beverages. DDW also offers one-to-one replacements for Class III and single-strength Class IV caramel colors with its Specialty Dark Powders Class I caramel color or burnt sugar powder. These powders are two to three times darker than the current Class I caramel color powders available.

The Possibilities of Microalgae
Algae-based ingredients promise to offer product developers functional and nutritional benefits in a wide range of product categories.

AlgaWise Algae Butter is the newest ingredient from TerraVia, South San Francisco, Calif. (terravia.com). This hard fat can be used in margarines and shortenings; bakery applications like laminated dough, cookies, and biscuits; and in icings and toppings. The palm-free, neutral-tasting fat is produced in a clean label way without interesterification, hydrogenation and solvent extraction, said Eelco Blum, product line director.

The company offers two powdered algae-based ingredients: AlgaVia Lipid-Rich Whole Algae and AlgaVia Protein-Rich Whole Algae. Almost half of the ingredient is fat, and 69% of that is monounsaturated fat. The rest of the ingredient is made up of fiber, protein, and other micronutrients. “It’s really a multifunctional ingredient and it can do a lot of different things,” said Katie Ringer, associate director of marketing and communications. It can replace eggs, dairy fats, and oils, and it can provide a full-fat mouthfeel to many products. Another benefit is that it can help provide moisture and texture enhancements in gluten-free or vegan products. The ingredient provided a soft texture to challah bread and chewiness and moistness to a gluten-free vegan oatmeal cookie distributed at the booth. The protein powder contains all essential amino acids and has a high digestibility. “All of the nutrients are encapsulated inside the algae cell wall, so the protein and other nutrients are protected,” said Ringer. This means that the ingredient does not interact with other ingredients and is not affected by processing conditions like temperature, she explained. In the protein smoothie beverage concept, the ingredient did not give a gritty texture and demonstrated that it is easily dispersible. Both ingredients are used in products like beverages, bakery, bars, and snacks available to consumers, said Ringer.

Finally, TerraVia’s AlgaWise Ultra Omega-9 Algae Oil has 93% monounsaturated fatty acids, low saturated fat (4%), and 0 g of trans fat. It has a neutral flavor and high smoke point (485°F), so it can be used in applications like salad dressings and fried foods.

New PHO-Free Alternative
Stratas Foods, Memphis, Tenn. (stratasfoods.com), introduced Apex non-partially hydrogenated soybean oil shortening line made using the company’s proprietary Flex crystallization technology. The company claims that the ingredient provides stability and consistency to baking, icing, and doughnut applications, which in many cases can be challenging applications to replace partially hydrogenated oils. The ingredient contains no palm oil. In its commercialization validation step, Stratas Foods introduced Apex to several customers for trial and testing. So far it has received positive reviews, and some bakers have said that it has outperformed PHO ingredients, according to the company.

Potato’s Potential
Potato starch and protein from Avebe, Veendam, the Netherlands (avebe.com), offer functionalities to a variety of products. At the booth, the company showcased its Amylogum CLS and EST starches in confectionery chews, where they functioned as non-GM gum arabic replacements and Etenia 457 potato starch in cream cheese made without whey. Perfectabind C replaces phosphates in meat products and Eliane Gel 100 provides stability in soups and sauces. Eliane C100, C200, and C300 starches are for use in snack products.

“It was good to be back at IFT where we had an intense three days with current and potential customers, presenting our portfolio of solutions based on potato starch and proteins for texture,” said Sally Romano, sales manager, USA & Canada. “We received many requests for samples from our latest product range which meet the current trends such as non-GMO, natural, clean label, grain-free, and free-from. Besides our latest product range, we are working together with the R&D and marketing team on exciting new products to meet these needs.”

Amping Up Flavor and Sweetness Naturally
New ingredient brands from Edlong Dairy Technologies, Elk Grove Village, Ill. (edlong.com), address two of the food industry’s most pressing concerns: creating cleaner labels and reducing added sugar.

Edlong’s Simply Dairy ingredients are concentrated dairy essences that naturally amplify the richness and creaminess of cheese or butter notes. The company spent six years perfecting the ingredients in response to customer demand, said Laura Parker, director of marketing. At IFT16, Edlong showcased the Simply Dairy ingredients in three delectable prototypes: Perfectissimo Parmesan Shortbread Rounds, Simply Saucy Chicken Duo, and Lucky Kentucky Peach Bourbon Pound Cake. Edlong bills the new offerings as natural dairy ingredients; unlike flavors, they may be listed as their source ingredients on product labels.

For product developers looking to cut the sugar, Edlong offers Sweet Spot flavor enhancers that boost sweetness perception and improve mouthfeel. Although they are dairy-derived, Sweet Spot flavors do not have an overtly dairy taste and are suitable for a variety of dairy and nondairy food and beverage applications. At the food expo, Edlong sampled Sweet Spot in a sugar-reduced, hibiscus-flavored beverage (Berry ‘Biscus Blast). Applications include yogurt, chocolate milk, pudding, baked goods, and more, according to Parker.

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New Flour Ingredients Meet Developers’ Demands
Organic, clean label, minimally processed, and healthful products are some of the things that consumers want food manufacturers to offer. Ardent Mills, Denver, Colo. (ardentmills.com), has stepped up to the plate, helping manufacturers meet these demands with ingredients like its new Simply Milled line of flour and two new sprouted multigrain blend flours.

What makes the Simply Milled flour attractive to manufacturers is that it is just ground wheat produced without bromate or bleach and containing no additives, said Mike Veal, vice-president of marketing. The line includes bread flour, all-purpose flour, pastry flour, and whole wheat flour that can help manufacturers meet clean label and minimally processed trends.

Sprouted grains are trending as consumers are looking for food ingredients that provide them with additional health benefits. Sprouting grains through controlled germination helps to make nutrients more bioavailable. Veal explained that Ardent Mills has the capabilities to sprout grains, dry them, and then mill them to produce flour. The company featured Sprouted White Spring Whole Wheat Flour in Korean Kogi Beef Bao Buns and Farmers Market Brunchacoccia product concepts.

Ensuring that there is a greater supply of organic wheat is a mission of Ardent Mills, so in December 2015, it launched an initiative to double the acreage of organic wheat crops by 2019. So far, the company has had great success in developing closer relationships with producers in several states and in Saskatchewan, said Mary Ann Strombitski, communications lead. In the very near future, the company will have eight sites to mill, produce, and store organic certified wheat, she added. The company already has a robust lineup of organic flours and grains, including its latest, organic heirloom spelt flour. This flour was used in the rolls for the Denver Dogs product concept and in the Tomato, Herb, and Lebany Pizza.

Finally, the company addressed the recent outbreak of E. coli in flour by promoting its SafeGuard Flour. The flour goes through a heat process as part of the SafeGuard Treatment and Delivery System that ensures it is safe as a raw ingredient. The process also helps to maintain the functionalities that manufacturers expect flour to contribute, said Kent Juilot, vice-president of research, quality, and technical solutions.

Shielding Products From Microbial Activity and More
Talk about multitasking. The new PhytoShield line from PLT Health Solutions, Morristown, N.J. (plthealth.com), is an ingredient system that not only enhances flavor but also delivers broad spectrum antimicrobial benefits and allows product developers to reap the benefits of cleaner labels.

Developed by Piscataway, N.J.–based Flavor Solutions, the PhytoShield technology is featured in a line of ingredients that can be customized for use in a variety of food and beverage products. PhytoShield combines commonly used natural flavor ingredients to create a nonpreservative approach to controlling microbial degradation, performing at a level that is equal or superior to synthetic antimicrobials, according to PLT. “It’s really based on a synergistic effect created by the reaction of bioflavonoids, flavor components, polyphenols, and other organic acids,” said Devin Stagg, vice-president, strategy and business development for PLT. “We think it is a truly innovative, novel approach to a clean label solution without compromising efficacy or organoleptics.”

PhytoShield contains no GM components and is available in organic-compliant grades. These ingredients are temperature stable up to 130°C and are effective across a pH range of 2 to 10. It is easy to incorporate in formulations, and in most applications, only a modest amount of the ingredients are required.

Keeping It Carolina Clean
Sweet potatoes are not just for baking or broiling in the oven. Just ask John W. Kimber, chief operating officer of Carolina Innovative Food Ingredients (CIFI), Nashville, N.C. (cifingredients.com), a supplier of sweet potato ingredients in liquid and powder forms. The sweet potato ingredients, produced in a new, state-of-the-art facility, deliver a variety of clean label benefits and can be used to replace sugar and high fructose corn syrup while supplying a nutritional boost to formulations. Kimber said clients appreciate the shortened supply chain and easy traceability that CIFI ensures as a U.S.-based operation.

CIFI unveiled four new brands at IFT16. Carolina Original is a cloudy sweet potato juice that adds flavor, color, and nutrients in applications such as baked goods, sauces, and more. Carolina Clear clarified sweet potato juice is positioned as an alternative to high fructose corn syrup. Carolina Craft dehydrated sweet potato flour and granules support gluten-free and non-GM applications via the addition of flavor, texture, and fiber. Carolina Sweet clean label sweetener is a nutritional replacement for high fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners. Purple sweet potato juice and sweet potato granules rich in anthocyanins are available from CIFI for a variety of product applications as well.

Adding Clean Label Flavor and Texture
“We’re focusing on clean label 100%,” said Jamie Wilson, director of marketing and culinary for Parker Products, Fort Worth, Texas (parkerproducts.com). At the show, Parker displayed the range of its core competencies for the bakery, snack, dairy, confectionery, beverage, and foodservice industries, including hard candies, sprinkles, granola, clusters, and rosemary almonds.

The company also highlighted its new clean label, shelf-stable cake inclusions, which are produced through a hot-panning process that leaves lower moisture content in the final piece and allows for a shelf life of up to 12 months. The inclusions, which have a crunchy texture when dry and absorb fat and moisture in ice cream to mimic the texture of real cake, come in brownie, pie crust, and carrot, vanilla, red velvet, lemon, and German chocolate cake varieties. “As indulgent food brands move toward cleaner labels, they will need inclusions that can still preserve a great sensory experience,” said Greg Hodder, president. “Parker is available to help with intriguing ingredients—like our new cake inclusions—that possess claims including all natural, allergen-free, and others.”

These cake inclusions work well in ice cream, where they can help prevent waste and reduce operational costs while creating on-trend applications. On a related note, Parker also recently introduced its Feature Flavor line of 11 new flavors for ice cream.

Using Cellulose to Boost Texture
Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Wilmington, Del. (ashland.com), draws on its range of cellulosic food ingredients to add texture, increase moisture, and improve processing efficiency and finished-product quality in major food applications. According to Mark E. Hines, global program manager in food R&D and technical service, the company’s ingredients can enhance current popular applications such as gluten-free, clean label, and vegan/vegetarian products. Hypromellose works well in gluten-free breads, as it thermally gels, while rice flour helps stabilize formulations and promotes gas cell formation. Ashland is working internally on plant-based protein foods, including burgers, as well as cheese analogues to combat the high prices of full-fat cheeses for applications such as pizza.

At the show, Ashland sampled a margarita sangria with reduced sugar and cellulose gum to showcase its effects on mouthfeel, along with a gluten-free pretzel to highlight the company’s gluten-free capabilities. “Products such as Aqualon 7HOF cellulose gum provide a consumer-pleasing sensory experience in both carbonated and noncarbonated products,” said Maxine Weber, global marketing manager, nutrition. “This hydrocolloid modifies viscosity to give the perception of full-body mouthfeel in formulas containing little or no sugar.”

Showcasing the Versatility of Almonds
The Almond Board of California (ABC), Modesto, Calif. (almonds.com), highlighted the benefits of almonds across a range of applications, including a tart Hibiscus-Rose Almond Berry Smoothie made with almond milk and almond butter and lemonade made with almonds and carrot juice. Chef Rob Corliss focused most on the snacking potential of almonds, as hand-to-mouth eating occasions are on the rise, according to Jennifer Krug, senior account executive at Porter Novelli. Whole almonds were flavored with a spicy seasoning blend reminiscent of Nashville hot chicken; coated with coconut-orange glaze, milk chocolate, coffee, and cacao nibs; and incorporated into a sophisticated snack mix that included smoked bourbon almonds, cinnamon-dusted almonds, and white chocolate chips.

The ABC also highlighted recent research on consumer perceptions of almonds as well as a positive forecast for the 2016–2017 almond crop; according to the ABC, the 2016 California almond crop is forecast to surpass 2 billion lb for the first time since 2013. In addition, the ABC provided information about almonds’ relationships with water and bees, explaining in one report how California’s Mediterranean climate experiences both wet and dry years and in another how the ABC’s Honey Bee Best Management Practices serve to protect bees in the orchards and beyond.

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Celebrating 140 Years of Malt
Malt supplier Briess, Chilton, Wis. (briess.com), celebrated its 140th anniversary at IFT16 with the Ultimate Malted Milk Shake featuring Briess Malted Milk Powder. It also debuted the first ingredient in its new InnoSweet line. InnoSweet Sprouted Whole Wheat Powder, a first-of-its-kind nutritive sweetener, can reduce added sugars by 25% in breakfast biscuits, 33% in granola, and 100% in extruded cereals. The powder is created using a gentle cooking and drying process and contributes sweetness, flavor, and browning in applications. The non-GM ingredient contributes no added sugars and can be labeled as “sprouted whole wheat.” In addition, substituting InnoSweet for some of the sugar in a product can shift “sugar” further down the ingredient list, said Bernadette Wasdovitch, marketing communications manager.

Whipping Up Healthier Baked Goods
With the 2018 deadline for removal of partially hydrogenated oils from the food supply looming, product developers are looking for formulation solutions, and Palsgaard, Morris Plains, N.J. (palsgaard.com), brought several of them to the IFT16 food expo.

Three functional powdered cake emulsifiers help do the job in cake mixes and commercially produced baked goods by stabilizing liquid oil and yielding soft, moist cakes. Emulpals 115 is an instantly reacting emulsifier for cake batter systems that has excellent aeration after only two minutes of whipping and is well-suited for use in cake mixes. Emulpals 116, positioned for use in foodservice mixes, is a cost-effective emulsifier that requires no activation steps when liquid is added to the mix and has a four-minute whipping time. Palsgaard SA 6610 is a versatile, easy-to-use whipping agent for industrial cake manufacturers. Palsgaard sampled cupcakes made with its emulsifiers at the food expo.

The company also sampled a chocolate spread that was only 29% fat (versus a more typical range of 45%–55%) thanks to the use of two of its emulsifiers—one that helps avoid oil separation and another to improve spreadability.

Palsgaard will launch a new innovation center focused on bakery and confectionery applications in Edison, N.J., late this year.

Announcing an Organic Release Aid
Par-Way Tryson Co., St. Clair, Mo. (parwaytryson.com), promoted its upcoming organic and non-GM release aid for industrial processing and baking. According to Ellen Aubuchon, industrial accounts manager, the company will begin sending out information about the new product soon. Par-Way Tryson offers a range of lubricants and release agents designed to facilitate application, enhance products, simplify cleaning, and extend equipment shelf life. They are specially formulated to accommodate high temperatures, persistent surface sticking, and low-fat, low-moisture, and high-sugar formulations.

Celebrating Dutch Innovations
Holland Food Valley, Wageningen, the Netherlands (hollandfoodvalley.com), marked its 10th anniversary at the IFT16 expo with a special presentation on Monday. During the rest of the show, the pavilion highlighted the innovativeness of Dutch companies, such as Scelta Mushrooms, Nutress, and NIZO. Samples offered in the pavilion included a Green Asparagus Burger that incorporated lentils; another burger made from tomato, chicken, and fish flavored with an algae flake dressing; and a high-protein chocolate cake made with mealworm.

Almond Flour Power
Blue Diamond Almonds Global Ingredients Division, Sacramento (bdingredients.com), celebrated the “perfect marriage” of almond flour and bakery applications with a multitiered wedding cake at its booth, greeting attendees with wedding cake mini cupcakes. Blue Diamond offers three almond flour types: extra-fine bleached, which delivers a smooth texture and mouthfeel; extra-fine natural, which has a natural light color and provides a rustic, artisanal appearance; and fine blanched, which works well in everyday baking and cooking. Introduced in March 2015, Blue Diamond’s almond flour works well in gluten-free and Paleo dishes and is doing really well as demand for alternative flours has grown, according to Jeff Smith, director of marketing. In addition, the company focused on the potential almonds have for snacking applications.

Enhancing With Enzymes
Biocatalysts, Cardiff, Wales (biocatalysts.com), highlighted its enzyme capabilities at IFT16. These capabilities are suitable for a range of applications, such as protein hydrolysis, flavor generation in enzyme-modified cheese, and fruit juice production. The company’s Depol 40L, for example, can increase vanilla yield around two- to four-fold compared with the traditional curing process, a useful tool in light of low Madagascar vanilla crops this year. In addition, Biocatalysts’ Customized Enzyme Discovery, Development, and Manufacturing Service can create a unique enzyme solution to meet customers’ needs, with commercial-scale manufacturing achievable in less than one year.

Boosting Flavor With Yeast
Biorigin, São Paulo (biorigin.net), displayed the range of its Bionis yeast extracts through two taste tests. Grissini Sticks—dry breadsticks—were made with Bionis YE HN 12, a yeast extract with natural 5’nucleotides that provide a clean, balanced savory taste profile and boost umami compared to the control. Bionis YE DRK, a dark yeast extract with a robust, roasted taste profile, was showcased in the dulce de leche filling in Brazilian Carolina Pastries. The company’s portfolio also includes natural flavors and yeast derivatives that can be used to provide savory and umami notes, deliver body, enhance mouthfeel, mask flavors, and reduce sodium in a range of applications.

Adding Flavor Through Herbs
Darégal Gourmet, Hamilton Township, N.J. (industrial.daregalgourmet.com), has been serving the European market for nearly 130 years, and the company has recently introduced its herb solutions to the North American market. According to Susan Grothe, director of industrial sales US, Darégal’s herbal ingredients are ideal for product developers seeking to differentiate their products with flavor and color, that is, “anyone who is driven by color, flavor, taste, and clean label.”

Darégal controls the quality of its products by controlling the supply chain, as well as growing a wide range of varieties and cultivating its own hybrids. Darégal preserves its herbs close to where they are grown, isolating a high concentration of essential oils that retain their flavor, and the company also individually quick-freezes them to provide a stronger flavor than is possible with dried herbs. Darégal offers liquid herbs in two forms—water- and oil-based—which are sold frozen and have a two-year shelf life. At IFT16, the company highlighted some of its ingredients in herb-accented beverages Basil Lemonade and Blueberry Mint Infusion.

Non-GM Corn and Oils
Bunge, St. Louis (bungenorthamerica.com), debuted several Non-GMO Project Verified ingredients at IFT16, including corn milled ingredients and canola and soybean oils. Bunge’s Crete, Neb., mill—the world’s largest corn mill—is currently undergoing Non-GMO Project verification, which allows the company to help brands of all sizes, according to Mark Stavro, senior director of marketing for North America. Its corn offers versatility, as corn can be broken down into layers and made into flour, meal, bran, and grits; “each piece can go somewhere,” said Stavro.

In addition, the company highlighted other ingredients in its non-GM portfolio, including ancient grains, rice, gluten-free breadings, and puffed and expanded snacks. Chef Zach Hovan served samples that incorporated these ingredients from the company’s food truck. Offerings included Ropa Vieja Polenta Cake made with Non-GMO Project Verified cornmeal and Whole Harvest expeller-pressed canola oil.

A Taste of Peru
Sister companies Exandal and Colorexa, Lima, Peru (exandal.com), showed two ingredients from Peru, tara gum and quinoa. Tara gum can be used to add viscosity and thickness to products, according to Rod A. Ojeda, global trade manager for Colorexa. Quinoa, meanwhile, can be used in a variety of forms to add protein to applications. Available in three colors—red, black, and white—the Peruvian ancient grain can be milled, flaked, and precooked for use in bars, dressings, pet food, infant powders, and to replace rice.

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Stevia Gets Even Sweeter
Stevia plants bred to yield more than 20 times the amount of steviol glycosides found in other stevia plant varieties make possible PureCircle’s new Zeta family of stevia ingredients. According to John Martin, global director of technical development and innovation for PureCircle, Oak Brook, Ill. (purecircle.com), these new compounds deliver a taste profile closer to sugar than other forms of stevia and are ideally suited for formulating zero-calorie to mid-calorie beverages, a product category that has been particularly challenging for stevia.

“We wouldn’t be able to do that with just reb A [steviol glycosides],” said Martin. “Finding the right steviol glycosides with very high levels of sweetness without the negative attributes has been our goal for many years. Before, only caloric or artificial sweeteners were able to achieve this sweetness level.”

To demonstrate Zeta’s effectiveness as a sweetener at the food expo, PureCircle sampled an iced coffee beverage formulated with the new ingredients.

At IFT16, PureCircle announced that it will invest $100 million in its agronomy program over the next five years with a goal of creating the world’s largest natural stevia supply and expanding stevia growing beyond China and into 15 new regions around the globe, including locations in India, Africa, and South America.

Fat Reduction Solutions
Dow, Philadelphia (dow.com), and Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis (dowagro.com), shared information about work the company units are doing within the oils field. Dow recently announced global commercial availability of the company's WELLENCE Fat Reduction technology, a range of cellulose-based food gums with optimized properties that help reduce the oil uptake of coated and battered food products during frying. WELLENCE forms an impermeable film around foods like meat and meat analogues, reducing oil uptake by 30% to 40% and locking moisture into foods, according to Christopher J. Spontelli, field marketing manager, food solutions. It also allows breading to maintain its uniform shape and ensure adhesion and helps oil last longer. At IFT16, Dow showcased this ingredient in fried shrimp, chicken, and french fries.

Dave Dzisiak, commercial leader, grains and oils North America for Dow AgroSciences, shared information about research involving fats, including what he called a 180° turnaround over the past five years regarding our views on fats. He also mentioned work the company is doing to develop more stable oils through plant breeding, and the company launched a “Journey in Plant Breeding” interactive tool to help explain how its Omega-9 Canola Oil was created.

Milling Healthful Ingredients
Healthy Food Ingredients, Fargo, N.D. (healthyfoodingredients.com), represented its specialty ingredient brands SK Food International, Hesco/Dakota Organic, and Suntava. Suntava shared information about its Suntava Purple Corn, a corn variety that contains high levels of anthocyanins and twice the antioxidants of blueberries. Available in organic and conventional varieties, the corn can be made into flour, meal, and grits, which can be pregelatinized, precooked, roasted, and sprouted, as well as into masa flour, freeze-dried kernels, individually quick frozen, puree, and extract. In addition, the Hesco/Dakota Organic brand recently processed hard winter wheat for the first consumer product to include a Certified Transitional Ingredient, which comes from farmers who are transitioning fields from conventional to organic.

Consumer-Approved Nutrition
At IFT16, DSM, Parsippany, N.J. (dsm.com), “focused on segments and platforms where we see consumer interest and CPG growth, from ‘natural’ coloration and nutritional lipids to vitamin and nutraceutical fortification through custom nutrient blends,” said Marlena Hidlay, associate marketing manager. The company’s prototypes centered around children’s nutrition, sports nutrition, energy and recovery, among others, and Hidlay explained that DSM tested many of the prototypes with a consumer base to further validate the concepts.

These concepts included Barbecue Cheddar Popcorn, which replaced colors from artificial sources with beta-carotene; Hydrotonix Electrolyte Recovery Beverage packed with vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, sodium, and potassium, which one consumer said “looks like a wonderful alternative to sports drinks”; and Fruit Rainbow Sherbet that was colored with carotenoids. Fortified Veggie Straws enhanced with vitamins A, C, D, E, and B1 were a “healthy alternative to normal chips,” according to one consumer, and PrimaVita Pizza formulated with Maxavor, Multirome, Gistex, and Maxagusto maintained its savoriness while offering sodium reduction.

Showcasing Salt
Morton Salt, Chicago (mortonsalt.com), highlighted the many applications of its salt ingredients through a variety of concepts designed by Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations. Crispy waffles were served with Morton PureSun Culinary Crystals, Morton Sea Salt, caramel, and Chantilly cream, while Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing paired Greek yogurt with Morton Kalisel Potassium Chloride, fresh herbs, and spices. Meal-time offerings included a Memphis Style BBQ Slider and Sweet and Sassy Carolina BBQ Pork Slider Sandwich on pretzel buns sprinkled with Morton White Pretzel Coarse Salt. For dessert, a Dulce de Leche and Chocolate Swirl Cupcake combined a Mexican chocolate cupcake made with ancho chilies and Morton Star Flake Dendritic Salt with a creamy Dulce de Leche and Chocolate Buttercream topped with Morton Top Flake Coarse Salt. To drink, Morton offered a Mocktail Mary rimmed with Morton Top Flake Coarse Salt and Strawberry Lemon Fizz served with ice in a cup with a Morton Top Flake Coarse Salt and basil rim.

Passport to Flavor
French’s, Chester, N.J. (frenchsflavoringredients.com), showed some of its flavorful ingredients in several popcorn applications that combined FRANK’s RedHot with blue cheese or Butter Buds, as well as a FRENCH’S Jalapeño & Potato Bar Mix that featured the company’s Crispy Jalapeños and Potato Sticks. Pretzel Bread Bratwurst Bites were served with Salad Style Mustard and Greek Yogurt Dip, Buffalo Crème Aioli, and Curried Golden Yogurt. In addition, the company offered a Passport of Global Mixology handbook filled with recipe ideas that draw on French’s ingredients, such as a Buffalo Kissed Bloody Mary, Horseradish Roquefort Burger, and a Carolina Pulled Pork Pizza.

Scooping Sophisticated Sundaes
Gold Coast Ingredients, Commerce, Calif. (goldcoastinc.com), delighted attendees with a rotating selection of ice cream sundaes. One such sundae paired miso-flavored ice cream made with Red Miso Type Natural, Oil-Soluble with ginger-flavored whipped cream, a soy glaze, and a sweet-and-savory furikake crumble. Other ice cream variations included a Thai Coconut Curry Sundae and a Fried Chicken & Waffle Sundae. In addition, Gold Coast offered three flavored beverages: Mango-Mangosteen, Fuji Apple-Plum, and Blueberry-Pomegranate. Gold Coast offers a range of conventional, organic, natural, and non-GM flavors and natural and synthetic colors intended for use in a variety of application types, including dairy, confectionery, beverage, bakery, dairy-free cheese, and nutraceuticals.

Drop-In Non-PHO Options
“Customers turn to Corbion for innovative solutions and for expertise—they trust us to answer formulation and other questions,” said Ruud Peerbooms, senior vice president, food, for Corbion, Lenexa, Kan. (corbion.com). “Our team works hand-in hand with customers to make their products cleaner, safer, fresher, and tastier.” Last year, the company showcased its non-PHO emulsifiers, and it focused on them again at IFT16. The ENSEMBLE line is a reengineered collection of Corbion’s most popular PHO-containing emulsifiers—minus the PHO—that can be dropped into formulations and provide all the same functionalities as the PHO-containing products. With the FDA deadline of June 2018 for eliminating PHOs, the time is now to focus on reformulating, said Jim Robertson, global product manager, emulsifiers. At the show, this line was showcased in a Brioche Sandwich Bun, where it improved machinability and dough handling, and Soft-Serve Ice Cream, where it emulsified fat, improved texture, reduced fat, and boosted mouthfeel.

Corbion’s Opti.Form, meanwhile, provides more benefits than just safety. In addition to controlling Listeria, the Opti.Form portfolio of sodium and potassium lactate and sodium diacetate extends shelf life and adds texture, moisture, and flavor to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products. The Verdad line offers clean label options for microbial control in natural meat products. Avanta Y100 can control Listeria, improve texture, and enhance cook yield by 3% to 9%. Avanta F100 extends shelf life, controls oxidation, and generally improves freshness, while C100 can be used in uncured meats to control Listeria, increase shelf life, and optimize nitrite and vinegar concentrations. These ingredients can be labeled as vinegar and citrus flour, vinegar and jasmine tea extract, and vinegar and celery powder, respectively.

Promoting Sorghum
The United Sorghum Checkoff Program, Lubbock, Texas (sorghumcheckoff.com), showcased a range of sorghum products at its booth and highlighted cooking demonstrations by chef Ray Potter and Lia Weber, winner of TLC’s Next Great Baker Season 4. Sorghum-based gluten-free cookies from Nu Life Market were offered. The goal of the Checkoff Program is to promote the benefits of sorghum, and the Checkoff Program recently introduced the first-ever sorghum consumer brand, Sorghum. Nature’s Super Grain, and website, simplysorghum.com, which is filled with recipes, cooking tips, nutritional and health benefit information, and a blog.

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Creating Clean Label Starches
“This year, the IFT menu showcases our extensive portfolio of solutions for extraordinary eating experiences that are driven by global consumer demands,” said Luis Fernandez, senior vice-president of global applications for Tate & Lyle, Hoffman Estates, Ill. (tateandlyle.com). At IFT16, the company introduced an extension of its line of CLARIA functional clean label starches. The fifth option in this line, CLARIA Delight tapioca-based starches enable manufacturers to formulate products with cleaner labels while maintaining excellent taste, texture, color, and performance. The thickening ingredient also brings process tolerance, according to the company, and is suitable for dairy, desserts, cream sauces, and yogurts. Tate & Lyle highlighted this new ingredient in the Honey Chipotle Sauce in a Sweet Street Taco wrapped in a tortilla made with X-PAND’R instant starch, PROMITOR soluble fiber, and PromOat beta-glucan.

Tate & Lyle showed several other product concepts at IFT16, including a Summer Mango Gazpacho made with PROMITOR soluble fiber and PUREFRUIT monk fruit extract. This high-fiber offering provides 9 g of fiber per 8 oz serving, with 5 of those grams coming from the PROMITOR, according to Amy Lauer, marketing communications manager, North America. Made from corn, this ingredient is stable in all kinds of processing methods, stable in high acidity, and flavorless and colorless. A Spicy Lowfat Chocolate Milk, meanwhile, included a blend of sweeteners to replace sugar and calories; DOLCIA PRIMA allulose helped reduce calories while delivering the texture of sugar, PUREFRUIT monk fruit extract replaced sugar, and TASTEVA stevia sweetener provided sugar replacement without bitterness. The drink, which contained 33% less sugar and 25% fewer calories compared with a control milk, was topped with a gluten-free doughnut formulated with Food Systems Gluten-Free Blend that delivered the moistness and texture of a traditional doughnut with excellent freeze-thaw stability.

An Enzyme for Dairy
Enzyme Development Corp., New York (enzymedevelopment.com), shared information about its Cynzime, a natural enzyme extracted from cardoon, a thistle-like plant. Cynzime provided milk-clotting properties and is effective on various sources of milk, including goat, buffalo, sheep, camel, and cow. Cynzime is also standardized to provide consistent clotting activity, which is not possible when using flowers from the plant, and unlike microbial rennets, which can usually only clot K caseins, it can hydrolyze alpha, P, Y, and K caseins. The company also provides a range of other enzymes, including proteases, carbohydrases, lipases, and cellulases, for use in baking, browning, tenderizing, and making juice.

Creating Solutions with Soy
CHS, Grandin, N.D. (chsinc.com), highlighted the benefits of its soy-based ingredients in several prototypes. An Asian chicken salad featured a chicken analogue, and a cheese spread drew on a bacon analogue; both analogues were made from soy. Also featured were Power Cookies featuring soy protein and soy flour, which provided 4 g of protein per cookie. CHS’s Ultra-Soy textured vegetable proteins can reduce visible fat, lower meat costs, and boost nutrition. Ultra-Soy can extend meats, improve handling properties, and enhance nutritional properties; it contains 50% protein, less than 2% fat, and no cholesterol or trans fats, and its bland-tasting formula means it will not interfere with other flavors. The 100% vegetarian dry soy products are also stable for at least two years from date of manufacture.

A Range of Red Colors
San Joaquin Valley Concentrates, Fresno, Calif. (sjvconc.com), highlighted its red colors derived from fruits and vegetables as well as its ActiVin grape seed extract. This ingredient contains antioxidants from California grapes extracted using water and dried with a belt dryer. The resulting crystals look more like metal shavings, according to a representative from the company, and this gives them better solubility and allows them to go more easily into solution with no clumping. San Joaquin Valley Concentrates showed both of these ingredients—ActiVin and its Crystal Merlot Shade—in a Berry Antioxidant Beverage it handed out at the booth; attendees attached the enclosed filled cap to their own water bottle to create the beverage.

Custom Solutions for Removing PHOs
Continuing its bakery theme from IFT15, IOI Loders Croklaan, Channahon, Ill. (northamerica.ioiloders.com), created a pizzeria for IFT16, baking cheese and pepperoni pizzas and filling cannoli shells each day. Although the company did not focus on its pizza ingredients during the show, it offers a range of ingredients that are appropriate for this application, including Durkex 500S hydrogenated soybean oil and SansTrans flakes and beads. In addition, IOI Loders Croklaan’s R&D team can provide clients with customized solutions.

Focusing on Flour Safety
In light of recent food safety concerns affecting flour, Siemer Specialty Ingredients, Teutopolis, Ill. (siemerspecialtyingredients.com), focused on its heat-treated flour. The company’s heat treatment process achieves a 5-log reduction of pathogens, making the flour ideal for any product that will be created without a kill step and potentially eaten raw, including raw cookie dough, ice cream inclusions such as cake batter and brownies, spoonable cookie dough, refrigerated biscuit/pastry dough, unbaked pizzas, frozen pies/appetizers, seasoning blends, soups, sauces, gravies, batters and coatings, pre-dust/post-dust, energy and nutrition bars, and hot and cold cereals. Because these applications do not need to rise, gluten functionality is not an issue, according to Rick Siemer, president. The flour is also hygroscopic, creating a crispy coating in breadings and batters that hold up well under heat lamps, and it is a suitable clean label replacement for modified food starch.

In addition, Siemer introduced an all-natural waxy wheat flour that can provide benefits in applications such as bakery, where it creates a more uniform crumb; gravies, where it reduces lumps; and pancakes, where it improves freeze/thaw ability.

Solutions for Reducing Sodium and Sugar
Jungbunzlauer, Newton Center, Mass. (jungbunzlauer.com), highlighted its sodium reduction solutions through a variety of prototypes, including a Reduced Sodium Pulled Pork served with a Reduced Sodium BBQ Sauce and a Reduced Sodium Mexican Salsa. In these applications, sub4salt mineral salt blend helped lower sodium while achieving identical functionality. In addition, its sub4salt cure combines sub4salt with sodium nitrite (0.5%/0.9%) for sodium reduction in the meat industry, allowing for up to 35% sodium reduction and consistent stability and performance. Jungbunzlauer can also help reduce sugar; its No Sugar Added Mango Slushy contained ERYLITE sweetener blend, which allowed for 70% less sugar than in a sugar-sweetened slushy. ERYLITE is a natural polyol with a glycemic index of zero and a sweet, clean taste.

Presenting Personalized Nutrition
At IFT16, Watson, West Haven, Conn. (watson-inc.com), focused on the idea of personalized nutrition, the idea that people living different lifestyles or with certain medical or nutritional needs might desire different foods. To help bring the idea of personalized nutrition to life and help companies identify target audiences, Watson offered examples of various consumer personas and products that appeal to certain population segments; for example, the company’s fortified coffee creamer product concepts included either an energy boost or added antioxidants, which may appeal differently to each persona.

Watson also presented a series of product concepts featuring its ingredients, including a Fortified Spring Water with Clear-E and Beta-clear, clear forms of vitamin E and beta-carotene, and cookies, brownies, and Airheads candies. The cookies showed the company’s emoji-shaped glitter, and the brownies included Watson’s glutenNONE gluten-free specialty mix. The Airheads demonstrated the ability of the company’s Edible Glitter to stand up to high heat and extrusion without changing the texture of the product.

Boosting Natural Colors in Cheese
Land O’ Lakes Ingredients, Arden Hills, Minn. (landolakes-ingredients.com), showed its dairy ingredients in several on-trend prototypes. Tortilla chips with a Green Chile Queso provided the taste of Tex-Mex–style melted cheese with green chilies, white pepper, chili pepper, and jalapeños blended with tomato, onion, and garlic. Popcorn sprinkled with White Cheddar Cheese Powder delivered a well-rounded flavor and mouthfeel for long-lasting cheddar impact, and Thai Chili Ranch potato chips combined flavorful ranch with the tangy, sweet Thai chili and was formulated without artificial flavors, PHOs, or FD&C colors.

In addition, John T. McDonald, technical director, commercial solutions, gave a presentation on the history of coloring sources and presented research into developing snack foods with natural colors, including methods for testing taste/flavor impact and color matching. A taste test set up in the booth also asked attendees to choose whether sample A or B contained natural colors based on their hues as well as their taste. According to McDonald, because natural color sources often contribute taste components to the foods they color, Land O’Lakes focuses on taking down the flavor profile of these ingredients to ensure that the cheese flavor pops.

Clean Label Pathogen Protection
Newly Weds Foods, Chicago (newlywedsfoods.com), has been working on its new food safety offering, DefenStat, for a while now; the company included this ingredient in the burgers it served at IFT15 to see if attendees noticed a different in taste. They did not, and following USDA approvals, the team launched the ingredient at a poultry show in January. According to Tom Downs, senior director of global marketing, and Roger Maehler, senior director of R&D, this system offers protection from pathogens when considering three production factors: cold chain unreliability, consumers not following cooking directions, and cross-contamination. DefenStat inhibits pathogen proliferation, reduces potential for cross-contamination by 90%, and enhances pathogen susceptibility to heat. The easy-to-use liquid, which can be applied directly to ground products and whole muscle meats by marinating at 1% use, is effective against E. coli and Salmonella and provides a clean label option for pathogen control; it can simply be labeled as vinegar or vinegar spice extract.

Promoting Pulses
The United Nations designated 2016 as the International Year of Pulses, and to celebrate, USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, Moscow, Idaho (pulsepledge.com), and Pulse Canada, Winnipeg, Canada (pulsecanada.com), joined with global partners to spotlight the versatility of pulse crops, which include dry peas, lentils, beans, and chickpeas. At the booth, these organizations launched the consumer Pulse brand, provided food demos featuring the ingredients, and provided technical support. In addition, Pulse Canada sponsored a Cooking Up Science session that featured Flax Millet Pulse Chips, gelato containing white beans, and Enchilada with Salsa Verde and Southwest Succotash that contained fava bean flour, chickpeas, and black-eyed beans.

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Not the Same Old Commodity Soybean Oil
The soy industry has more to offer food formulators than commodity soybean oil, emphasize experts from QUALISOY, Seattle, Wash. (qualisoy.com), a collaborative effort dedicated to introducing healthier, more functional soybean oils.

While more than three-quarters of trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) have been removed from the American diet, getting rid of the rest is challenging because of issues of functionality and cost, said edible oils expert and QUALISOY consultant Richard Galloway. There are still hundreds of processed foods that require the structure of a more solid fat, and for this reason, still contain small amounts of PHOs.

Soy-based solutions that QUALISOY is promoting include high oleic soybean oil and interesterified soybean oil. High oleic soybean oil contains no trans fat, is high in healthful monounsaturated fats, and contains less saturated fat than commodity soybean oil; it effectively extends shelf life and offers a long fry life in foodservice applications. Trans fat–free interesterified soybean oil, which is produced through an enzyme modification process, is a good option for replacing PHOs in applications made with shortening, such as cookies, spreads, and icing.

A striking sculpture made of interesterified high oleic soybean oil shortening and icing formulated with the same shortening drew the attention of visitors to the QUALISOY booth.

A Network of Solutions
Univar, Downers Grove, Ill. (univar.com), is a leading global distributor of specialty and basic chemicals from more than 8,000 producers worldwide. The company draws on its broad portfolio of products and services, an extensive chemical distribution network, and technical and market expertise to equip customers with tailored solutions to meet their needs.

Celebrating 100 Years of Blueberries
In 1916, the first commercial highbush blueberry crop went to market, and today, these healthful and tasty berries are grown in 30 states and can be sourced in fresh, frozen, liquid, dehydrated, and canned forms. In the last decade, per capita consumption of blueberries has risen each year, with record numbers of new products entering the market each month, according to the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, San Mateo, Calif. (blueberrytech.org). The council promotes the berries’ benefits through its website, which is filled with useful information for the food industry, including research and supplier databases, as well as new product examples.

A New Way to Carry Flavor
“At this year’s IFT expo, DTL is pleased to share new information on the benefits of using Zemea propanediol as a direct food additive and as a flavor carrier,” said David Shaw, global marketing manager, DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products (DTL), Loudon, Tenn. (duponttateandlyle.com). “By using Zemea propanediol in certain formulations, technologists have found that they can achieve a reduction in bitterness and an overall improved sweetness perception in the final product.”

A product of the joint venture between DuPont and Tate & Lyle, Zemea is manufactured through a proprietary fermentation process using glucose from renewable feedstock instead of petroleum-based feedstock. The multifunctional, preservative-boosting humectant and ingredient delivers high performance in a variety of consumer applications and can be used as a carrier, extraction solvent, taste modifier, diluent, and humectant.

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Sampling the Expo
• Take-and-go sample packets of Matcha to Go can be conveniently added to a bottle of water, and after a quick stir or shake, consumers can enjoy the health benefits and unique flavor of matcha green tea anytime, anywhere. Aiya America, Torrance, Calif. (aiya-america.com), also supplies the food industry with ceremonial grade and cooking grades of matcha tea.

• Bay State Milling, Quincy, Mass. (baystatemilling.com), has expanded its BeneGrain line of sprouted ingredients to include ancient grains and seeds such as amaranth, millet, quinoa, chia, and brown flax. Sprouted grains and seeds have less bitterness and a higher nutrient profile than traditional whole grains. Company experts discussed product development ideas using these ingredients.

• CP Kelco, Atlanta (cpkelco.com), tempted attendees with another collection of gelled drinks, including a Foaming Fireball Cordial Cocktail made with KELTROL xanthan gum for foam stability and Carbonated Drinking Jelly made with GENU carrageenan and locust bean gum for gelling.

• Doehler North America, Cartersville, Ga. (doehler.com/en.html), served craft beverages flavored with the company’s flavoring ingredients. Some of these were blood orange elderflower, cascade hop water, craft cola with hops, ginger beer, and lavender hop water.

• Domino Specialty Ingredients, West Palm Beach, Fla. (dominospecialtyingredients.com), informed attendees about its versatile and functional value-added sweeteners solutions, rice products, and pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sugars for a wide variety of applications.

• The lines were long at GNT, Tarrytown, N.Y. (gnt-group.com), where the company poured craft sodas for thirsty attendees.

• Flavorchem, Downers Grove, Ill. (flavorchem.com), featured its Cold Brew Hibiscus Extract in an Agua de Jamaica Granita product concept.

• SensoryEffects, Bridgeton, Mo. (sensoryeffects.com), developed six beverage concepts to highlight the functionality of its flavor systems, VitaCholine choline, and protein ingredients. They included indulgent Mocha Flavored Premium Milk and Non-GMO Hot Cocoa, a refreshing Georgia Peach Flavored Juice, and better-for-you Thai Tea Protein Beverage, Chocolate Orange Sports Nutrition Drink, and Fuji Apple Pear Vitamin Sports Water.

• SueBee Honey, Sioux City, Iowa (suebee.com), showcased its honey offerings and offered attendees packets of wildflower seeds.

• Synergy, Wauconda, Ill. (synergy.com), sampled Mini Protein Donuts made with Carberry whey protein isolate and pea protein in flavors such as Strawberry Shortcake, Dulce de Leche, and Orange Guava. They were accompanied by beverage concepts made with the company’s brand-new Synergy Pure 100% Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate, the highest strength concentrate available on the market.

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Sampling the Expo
• Matcha green tea is available from AOI Tea Company, Huntington Beach, Calif. (aoitea.com). The company produces matcha ingredients in different grades suitable for use in both beverage and food products. It also offers matcha blends and grades of ceremonial matcha.

• Chr. Hansen, Milwaukee, Wis. (chr-hansen.com), allowed attendees to see what some of its naturally derived colorings looked like in a variety of foods. Some of the featured colorings included Ultra Stable Red, a water-soluble liquid that gives beverages vibrant shades of red and CapColors, which are beta-carotene–based encapsulated pigments that give shades of orange (from yellow orange to red orange) with no sediment or neck ringing.

• FONA International, Geneva, Ill. (fona.com), formulated on-trend product concepts that featured exciting combinations of ingredients from the company’s naturally derived flavorings portfolio. Attendees had the chance to sample Vanilla Rooibos Ancient Grain Calming Energy Bites, Spiced Pear & Citrus Cardamom Fruits & Nut Bar, Grapefruit Mimosa Organic White Chocolate Bark, and Peach Mango Coconut Water Freeze Pop. Refreshing beverages included Blackberry Cucumber Basil Sparkling Water and Mango Passionfruit Tangerine Protein Juice Smoothie.

• Trilogy Essential Ingredients, Abingdon, Md. (trilogyei.com), turned its booth into a tiki-themed paradise with leis, palm trees, and pineapples and served passionfruit and pineapple habanero ice cream.

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Sampling the Expo
• Brenntag, Reading, Pa. (brenntagnorthamerica.com), provided information about the clean label ingredients it distributes, including beta-carotene from BASF, enzymes from Novozymes, and sub4salt from Jungbunzlauer.

• Carmi Flavors, Commerce, Calif. (carmiflavors.com), offered popcorn in flavors such as Caramel With Almonds, Pistachio Nut, and Chocolate, as well as granitas in Blue Raspberry, Chocolate, Lime, Peach, and Piña Colada.

• Professional cake decorators and home bakers alike want vibrantly colored frostings. Typically, the color comes from synthetic colors, but naturally derived options are available. ColorMaker, Anaheim, Calif. (colormaker.com), featured a display of cakes and cookies decorated with naturally derived colors from its Color Garden Pure Natural Food Color line. These colorings can replace FD&C Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1 in royal icings and buttercream frostings.

• Honeyville, Brigham City, Utah (honeyville.com), served macarons and promoted its TempSURE dry heat process, which uses closely monitored heat to act as a kill step to reduce or eliminate bacteria.

• Yeast extracts and savory flavors from Savoury Systems International, Branchburg, N.J. (savourysystems.com), boosted the umami and kokumi tastes in Chinese Style Steamed Buns with Char Sui Pork and Baked Mac and Cheese product concepts. One yeast extract gave the buns a yeasty flavor while another gave the mac and cheese nutty and toasted flavors. Flavormax, Kokumi Type Flavor, and Umami Flavors enhanced savory notes and richness.

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Sampling the Expo
• Cereal Ingredients, Leavenworth, Kan. (cerealingredients.com), showed its inclusions in a variety of baked goods, such as scones, brownies, and muffins, made by local bakery Dinkel’s.

• David Michael & Co., Philadelphia (dmflavors.com), gave attendees flavor twists on classic food and beverage favorites with several product concepts—all formulated with naturally derived flavors. Pomegranate Hibiscus Lemonade combined lemon, pomegranate, and hibiscus flavors while Kumquat Lemonade featured lemon flavor and kumquat type flavor. Corn bread type flavor and honey flavor were used in Cornbread Waffles. A combination of an apple cider flavor and a fried doughnut type flavor were used in Apple Cider Donut Cotton Candy. The savory item produced for the show was Old Time Barrel Aged Barbeque Sauce. Smoky vanilla, caramelized, and maplewood type flavors along with apple cider vinegar toner flavor and roasted garlic flavor were featured in the sauce.

• As part of the Kansas State University Global Campus, Manhattan, Kan. (global.k-state.edu), students can complete online degree and certificate programs in agribusiness, food science, and food safety.

• The latest developments in spices and vegetable ingredients, coffee, cocoa, and edible nuts were presented by Olam Americas, Fresno, Calif. (olamgroup.com). Samples of ice cream made with the cocoa powder along with cold brew coffee topped with cocoa powder–infused whipped cream and chili chocolate brownies were available.

• An emulsifier substitute for egg and egg powder helps manufacturers to produce a range of baked goods suited for vegetarians. CAVAMAX W6 alphadextrin from Wacker Chemical Corp., Adrian, Mich. (wacker.com), stabilizes oil-in-water emulsions in cakes, waffles, and pancakes. It also has the benefit of being allergen-free.

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Sampling the Expo
• Butter Buds Food Ingredients, Racine, Wis. (bbuds.com), served visitors several tasty dishes made with the company’s butter, cream, and cheese ingredients, including a Chalupa Bowl made with Dried Beer Extract, a Key Lime Smoothie made with Butter Buds 8X Non-Dairy, an Angry Cherry Cobbler made with Butter Buds 32X CL, and a Gluten-Free Angry Cobbler Cookie with Butter Buds 32X CL.

• Using ingredients like its Super Sweet Corn Powder, Onion Juice Concentrate Candied Note, and Organic Pumpkin Flakes, Diana Food, Teterboro, N.J. (diana-food.com), developed corn and crab chowder, fried chicken on a sweet potato biscuit with sweet onion jelly, and banana-berry smoothie product concepts. Others included sweet corn and blueberry ice cream, khao soi, tropical fruit pop tarts with coconut drizzle, and onion and bacon sugar cookies.

• Milne Fruit Products, Prosser, Wash. (milnefruit.com), highlighted its complete range of fruit and vegetable ingredients, including juices, purees, IQF, powders, and dried (under its MicroDried brand). The company is a processor and supplier of these ingredients to food manufacturers around the world.

• Prinova, Carol Stream, Ill. (prinovausa.com), served four reduced-sugar product concepts made with stevia and naturally derived flavors. These included Clean Label Blackberry Soda, “Free From” Label Natural Peach RTD Tea, High-Protein, Reduced Sugar Strawberry Banana Smoothie, and Stevia Naturally Sweetened Lemon Yogurt. The company has an exclusive partnership with stevia manufacturer PureCircle. Prinova’s food technologists have worked to improve the taste profile of stevia ingredients and created specific stevia blends that closely resemble sugar’s taste profile.

 

Karen Nachay, a member of IFT, is senior associate editor of Food Technology magazine ([email protected]).
Melanie Zanoza Bartelme is associate editor, Food Technology magazine ([email protected]).