Key points
- Functional proteins
- Meat alternatives
- Collagen innovation
- Tapping into trends
- Natural colouring
- Fresh flavours
- Enhancing texture
- Fruit solutions
Food professionals from across the globe will be flocking to Paris at the beginning of December for the Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) and Natural Ingredients (Ni) shows and the conference that runs alongside them.
The biggest show in its 28-year history with more than 1,400 ingredients suppliers exhibiting and in excess of 27,000 visitors is being predicted by Richard Joyce, brand director for the event organiser UBM.
It will take place from December 1 to 3 at Paris Nord Villepinte with exhibitors including Roquette, Cargill, Brenntag, ADM, FrieslandCampina, DSM, Naturex, Lactalis and Barry Callebaut.
The event is co-located with the Food Ingredients Europe Conference taking place over the same three days. It features more than 100 speakers who will aim to update delegates on all the latest trends and developments in the food and beverage industry.
The show will see the return of the New Product Zone, which displays the latest products and innovations and gives an inside track on what is predicted in the future. In addition, the Global Market Forum provides workshops and educational seminars on key industry topics, conducted by industry thought-leaders such as EAS, Euromonitor, NVC, Leatherhead Research, and Innova Market Insights. The Innovation and Ingredients Hub will allow exhibitors to present the latest developments and cutting edge technology.
Below we take a look at some of the products that will be on display during the three days of the show.
Functional proteins (Return to top)
FrieslandCampina says it is seeing increasing demand for dairy proteins due to their natural and healthy image and their taste.
It adds that clean-label requirements are playing an important role in the trend for dairy proteins, and that its caseinates and whey protein concentrates are recognised for structuring food products without artificial additives, meeting the increased need for more functional, natural ingredients.
Responding further to this trend, at FiE 2015 FrieslandCampina will be launching Excellion EM7 High Viscosity, which it describes as “a unique protein innovation with increased functionality”.
FrieslandCampina claims the new product will help analogue and processed cheese producers by saving production costs, improving product quality and enabling processability in a natural way. It reports that several potential users have already been contacted about it and are enthusiastic about the possible benefits.
Meat alternatives (Return to top)
GoodMills Innovation will be introducing two new products. Wheat texturates in the form of flakes will complement the Wheatmeat core range, allowing for the creation of vegetarian and vegan dishes, minced meat substitutes and bakery and snack fillings.
The extruded Wheatmeat flakes are characterised by their high water-binding capacity and are especially suitable for adding texture and structure to bakery and snack fillings as well as for the production of meat-free hamburger patties.
Based on high-protein wheat fractions, the flakes can achieve end products with up to 76% protein, depending on the amount used. Thus, snacks and dishes containing the flakes can form part of a healthy diet, particularly for the growing number of vegetarian and vegan consumers.
The second innovation is YePea (toasted pea meal), which offers a non-genetically modified organism (non-GMO) and allergen-free alternative to soy grits. YePea (an abbreviation of yellow pea) is derived from the yellow-podded snow pea. The new product can be used instead of soy grits, which are often used in baking mixes, bread recipes and small baked goods to improve texture.
The toasted and coarsely ground peas enhance water-binding capacity and provide a soft texture. Additionally, baked goods gain an appealing nutty flavour. What’s more, allergen labelling on the end products is not required. YePea’s raw materials, all of which are non-GMO, are grown in Europe.
“We are delighted to be able to use FiE as a platform for our two latest product launches,” says Michael Gusko, md of GoodMills Innovation. “By offering tasty meat alternatives and ingredients that are free from allergens and genetic engineering, we are enabling manufacturers to respond to current trends in different ways.
“Whether the aim is health, wellbeing, clean-label or process optimisation, our products are suitable for versatile demands and positionings.”
Collagen innovation (Return to top)
On its stand Gelita will be exploring the boundaries where pharmaceuticals and foods are increasingly merging. The specialist in collagen protein applications is aiming to support food makers to develop new product innovations.
It says fortified gummies are an example of this intersection as they combine an effective delivery system with the indulgence of confectionery, and Gelita has developed a number of concepts for this category. For instance, with technology developed by Gelita high doses of bioactive collagen peptides are possible, to produce nutritional supplements for healthy joints, skin and bones and to optimise body composition.
Gelita also asserts that cosmetics and food are becoming bedfellows, and the result is the strongly increasing market of nutricosmetics. These ‘beauty from within’ products are positioned like cosmetics but from the declaration point of view they are food.
Gelita highlights that in addition to their physiological and technological advantages, collagen proteins are perfect ingredients for natural and clean-label products. They are natural and non-allergenic proteins, and as they are neutral in taste and ready soluble they are easy to use in a wide range of different products.
Tapping into trends (Return to top)
Ingredion’s team of culinologists and technical experts will be on its stand to advise visitors on the latest food technology integral to taking successful on-trend food and beverage strategies to market in 2016.
The company will be bringing culinology – the art of combining the culinary arts and food science – to life through a range of burgers, baked goods and drinks using its latest product innovations including pulse proteins, its gluten-free texturising system, clean-label starches and processed cheese solutions.
“At FiE we’re bringing the delicious balance to life in an exciting format that taps into major food industry trends. We want to show food and drinks manufacturers that they can overcome processing challenges and meet changing regulatory and consumer demands without compromising the overall eating or drinking experience. It’s about achieving the perfect balance between quality, taste, texture and cost,” explains Martin Sonntag, vice president and general manager, for Ingredion.
“From our ‘affordable’ burger to recipes favouring specific health and nutritional benefits, all our concepts incorporate one or more new products to show how you can deliver consumer-winning recipes and help you get to market more quickly and profitably.”
One of the burgers that will be featured on the stand is the ‘healthy veggie burger’. This will incorporate Ingredion’s Vitessence pulse protein, and the latest addition to the Novation starch portfolio, Novation Prima 340 starch.
In addition to the gourmet burgers, there will also be a range of drinks and cakes including a super berry smoothie, a pressed mango juice drink and a banana and pecan cake. Each of the recipes will be balanced by Ingredion’s speciality starches, pulse proteins, flours and sweeteners to meet the growing demand for healthier and/or clean-label foods.
Natural colouring (Return to top)
Dry tomato pulp that offers an innovative three-in-one ingredient solution for prepared food products will take centre-stage for Lycored.
The pulp is a 100% natural ingredient that can be declared on the label simply as ‘tomato’. Lycored says it adds a vibrant and consistent red colour to sauces (including pasta sauces), condiments, soups, ready meals, and processed meats with no risk of turning brown like some other colourants.
It also provides an appealing texture and a high-fibre content – both soluble and insoluble – that can be declared on the label to enhance a product’s health credentials.
Lycored claims its dry tomato pulp is the perfect replacement for tomato paste, which tends to be inconsistent in terms of quality. It is also the ideal clean-label substitute for commonly used thickeners such as starch, which are unappealing to consumers seeking products containing ingredients they understand and recognise as natural.
The new dry tomato pulp is available in easily soluble dry granule form. It is part of Lycored’s 100% tomato-foodstuff ingredients portfolio, a range of natural tomato-based ingredients that are said to offer a ‘real food’ route to improving the taste, texture and appearance in recipes.
Fresh flavours (Return to top)
Sensient will be displaying a range of sweet, savoury and beverage flavouring solutions to enable manufacturers to offer fresh flavours to their customers.
A recent innovation from the company is its flavoured caramel range with varieties that can be used as fillings with a wide range of chocolates as well as a broad range of dairy products such as yogurt, ice cream and chilled or frozen desserts. In the beverage range will be flavours that can be used to make low alcohol cocktails.
Also on display on Sensient’s stand will be a variety of functional flavours and proprietary technical approaches that enable sugar, salt, fat and calorie reduction without compromising on taste.
“Tasting is believing,” says Simon Daw, marketing director at Sensient, “so we invite manufacturers of all kinds of food and drink products to come to our stand and explore Sensient’s fantastic world of exciting flavours and technologies.”
Enhancing texture (Return to top)
Celebrating its 18th appearance at FiE, Stable Micro Systems will this year showcase a range of products and services designed to help manufacturers achieve perfect food texture and mouthfeel.
Among the recent innovations on show will be its egg testing suite, a collection of 10 measurement and analysis tools for egg producers worldwide. Using the suite enables them to analyse various aspects of egg quality and make informed decisions about any changes required to flocks, feeding regimes or environment.
Experts will be on hand to demonstrate tests for shell breaking strength, albumen height and vitelline membrane strength.
The broader dairy sector has been an area of focus for Stable Micro Systems recently, with tests now available for producers of fats, cheese, yogurts and chilled and frozen dairy desserts. The company claims one test that is attracting particular interest is its new cheese grating rig, which mimics grating action either within the food processing sector itself (such as in pizzas, sauces or ready meals) or at home. The cheese is held in a sample block holder, while a grating platform, which has interchangeable grating faces, passes along its top surface.
Fruit solutions (Return to top)
Taura Natural Ingredients will highlight its ultra rapid concentration fruit, with a focus on three key points of difference: format, taste and formulation.
Taura will showcase these themes on three separate ‘islands’, where visitors will have the opportunity to see, handle and taste a wide range of ingredient and snack solutions based on real fruit.
Within ‘format’, Taura will demonstrate size and shape innovations, including Mini’s – which are claimed to be the world’s smallest fruit pieces. For ‘taste’, Taura will introduce flavour innovations in tune with the latest consumer trends, such as fruit+veg and fruit with spices. Under ‘formulation’, the emphasis will be on underlining the natural origin of Taura’s fruit products with an emphasis on the novel qualities.