Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

Bakery kefir, sourdough bread

Research egg cooling system, Salmonella

The human nutrition division of French yeast specialist Lesaffre has launched what it says is only the second known probiotic yeast, and the first to directly target Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

The patent pending, proprietary strain is being marketed as Lynside Pro GI+ and joins its Lynside range of yeast products that includes the other non-proprietary, probiotic yeast strain – Boulardii.

Lesaffre Human Care commercial and marketing director Benoît Laplaize told NutraIngredients that while the strain was from the same Saccharomyces cerevisiae family as Boulardii, it differed due its ability to reduce pain in the estimated 10 per cent of people that suffer from IBS.

Boulardii has been on-market for more than 20 years as an anti-diarrhoea aid and has been the subject of more than 40 clinical trials in this area.

Lesaffre sourced the new strain after scouring its yeast varietal bank of more than 6000 strains. Functional bakery applications and supplements are the initial point of focus.

Benoît Laplaize said the strain – registered with the French National Collection of Microorganism Cultures as CNCM-3856 – had demonstrated gut health and IBS benefits in an intervention trial of 179 people conducted in 2008.

Ingredient without science is useless

“We have worked on this product for six years,” Laplaize said. “It is difficult and complex to perform these kinds of trials because you are putting a living thing (the probiotic strain) into a living thing (the human or animal). But we are confident about this study and know that an ingredient without science is useless.”

That trial, in addition to published pre-clinical trials, forms the lynchpin of an article 13.5 proprietary and emerging science application submitted to the European Union health claims regime. The dossier proposes the claim that CNCM-3856, “Noticeably reduces digestive discomfort after four weeks of consumption”.

Two further clinical trials are expected to be completed by the end of next year.

The placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised trial was led by Professor Pierre Desreumaux at the University of Lille in France. Along with Lesaffre, Desreumaux is also the co-founder of DigestScience (www.digestscience.com), which specialises in digestive tract research.

The trial is yet to be published but will be presented at the 18th United European Gastroenterology Week beginning October in Barcelona, Spain.

It found that among 179 volunteers with symptoms of IBS who took 500mg/day of Lynside Pro GI+ per day for eight weeks:

• Intestinal pain and discomfort were greatly relieved after four weeks (significant difference between placebo and active product)

• Favourable effects on the bowel disorders caused by IBS such as abdominal/intestinal pain and discomfort, bloating, flatulence and constipation

Laplaize noted these discomfort measures were the gold standard as approved at the Third Congress of Gastroenterologists in Rome.

He said the article 13.5 health claim had been designed to strictly represent the findings of the trial.

Source: Bakery and Snacks

Health, Ingredients, Research IBS, Lesaffre, Lynside Pro GI+, probiotic yeast

Replacing some of the original fat in muffins with soluble cocoa fibre could help manufacturers boost the health profile of their products, says a new Spanish study.

The study led by Susana Fiszman from the Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (CSIC) indicates that “soluble cocoa fibre is an encouraging option for replacing oil in a chocolate muffin formulation.”

Growing Trend

Consumers take a great interest in food ingredients, and highly value products that are healthy or are seen to be making efforts to improve nutritional value.

The idea of replacing ingredients with healthier alternatives is not new, with previous research including assessing the potential for replacing flour with fiber in bakery products, as well as replacing wheat flour with resistant starch in biscuits .

The new study aimed to consider the effects of reducing a chocolate muffin’s fat content by replacing part of the oil ingredient (25, 50 and 75 per cent) with soluble cocoa fibre.

Fiszman and her team then measured the texture, composition, appearance, and colour of the muffins, and also performed a descriptive sensory analysis to compare the muffins flavour and texture.

Results

The study shows the addition of soluble cocoa fibre as a fat replacer gives muffins a more tender and crumbly feel, with a more compact and less aerated crumb.

Only muffins with 75 per cent fat replacement were found to be significantly smaller than the control samples, with the researchers suggesting that the loss in size could reflect an imbalance in formulation, recommending that this may be rectified with further investigation.

Fat replacement muffins were also found to have a lower staling rate, with the hardness of the control tripling over 28 days whilst much lower values were seen in the soluble cocoa fibre samples.

The study reveals several advantages to adding soluble cocoa fibre to muffins, such as higher moisture, a more tender and crumbly texture, and reduced the signs of hardening during storage.

However the study outlines points that need to be improved on, such as the loss of height (size), perception of bitter taste, and increased surface stickiness.

“A study to attempt to correct the height by reformulating the leavening agent or beating the egg whites more before adding them to the batter and to correct the lack of a typical chocolate flavour and colour by adding a small quantity of cocoa to all the formulations would make it possible to conduct a wide-ranging consumer acceptance study with information on the very considerable fat reduction and high fibre content of the new products,” stated the researchers.

Source: LWT – Food Science and Technology

Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1016/j.lwt.2010.06.035

“Cocoa fibre and its application as a fat replacer in chocolate muffins”

Authors: S. Martínez-Cervera, A. Salvador, B. Muguerza, L. Moulay, S.M. Fiszman.

Research cocoa fibre, Fat replacement, muffins

Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) has launched an egg-free glaze for bakery products that the company claims meets consumer demands and reduces raw material costs.

Glazes give a shine and golden tinge to baked goods that can make a crucial difference to consumers when deciding between different products. But they do contribute to production costs.

Cost savings

Arla claims its egg-free glaze MULTILAC BK1111 is a cheaper alternative to liquid pasteurised egg, typically cutting raw material costs by 10-30 per cent.

But it also claims that the glaze does a better job than traditional alternatives. AFI said: “Trials show the egg-free glaze can give a higher, longer-lasting shine than traditional egg wash.” In addition, it is capable of holding toppings such as sesame and poppy seeds in place.

AFI did not reveal the details of the formulation of the new glaze but said that it was built on the basis of tailor made solutions it has developed for clients.

“Although we have sold similar egg-free solutions for specific bakery products, this is the first all-round solution in our range,” said Søren Rothbøl Nørgaard, head of the AFI bakery application centre.

Label issues

AFI said is a natural, E-number free product that in most cases will not require companies to add anything to their labels as the ingredients in the glaze are typically already part of the formulation. There is also a low risk of contamination compared to liquid egg wash, which can be a potential breeding ground for bacteria.

MULTILAC BK1111 comes in a soluble powder form and just needs to be added to water in preparation for use.

Source: Bakery and Snacks

Ingredients ARLA, egg-free glaze, liquid pasteurised egg, MULTILAC BK1111

Puratos has developed a healthy snacking concept, based around its existing Oxanti chocolate product and combinations with the company’s other ingredients.

The Oxanti healthy snacking range includes a cereal bar, which has 45% more protein compared to other leading cereal bars, a wholegrain cake that has 40% less saturated fat than similar cakes, a ganache tart at just 74 calories per tart; and a friand that is very low in sodium (58% less compared to similar products).

Oxanti is part of the Belcolade range of chocolate made from single Origin cocoa beans from Ecuador with higher antioxidant levels. The company also claims that its antioxidant power remains effective for longer, thanks to a patent-pending conching process.

Chocolate Chocolate, Oxanti, Puratos

The world’s first 100 percent biodegradable chip packet – designed by FritoLay for its SunChips brand – has come in for criticism from Facebook members, with more than 30,000 agreeing the new packaging is too loud.

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America division said it took four years to develop the 100 percent compostable package, which was launched in the United States in April. The snacks bags are made with the plant-based renewable material, polylactic acid (PLA), and biodegrade in as little as 14 weeks under ideal conditions.

At the time of publishing, the Facebook group SORRY BUT I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THIS SUNCHIPS BAG had attracted 32,464 fans, with many posting comments complaining that the new bags frighten their pets or that conversation cannot be heard over the sound of the packet.

One recent posting on the group’s wall said: “How am I supposed to sneak chips from the bag now without anyone knowing?”

In response to the consumer noise over the issue, the company has provided on-shelf signs that say: “Yes, the bag is loud. That’s what change sounds like.”

The package was chosen by product innovation experts from the market research organization Mintel at last month’s IFT food expo in Chicago as one of the most innovative new products of the past year. According to Mintel’s research, 43 percent of consumers say they are likely to buy the SunChips product because of its strong eco-friendly positioning.

No one from FritoLay was available to respond to a request for further information prior to publication.

However, some fans of the Facebook page have defended the SunChips packaging. Another posting reads: “A 100% compostable bag, great for the environment, and what bothers you is that it’s loud? Are you trying to hide the fact that you’re eating them? Pour them into a bowl and quit complaining.”

Facebook is the most popular social networking site, used by 78 percent of online households, according to TNS. The research organization has said that social media has the potential to “transform marketing as we know it.”

Source: Bakery and Snacks

packaging biodegradable, FritoLay, packet

Ferenc Mohos, the managing director of Food Quality 1992 in Budapest, Hungary, has launched the book Confectionery and Chocolate Engineering: Principles and Applications. It is published by Wiley.

“Confectionery and chocolate manufacture has been dominated by large-scale industrial processing for several decades. It is often the case, though, that a trial and error approach is applied to the development of new products and processes, rather than verified scientific principles,” notes Mohos.

The purpose of the book is to describe the features of unit operations used in confectionary manufacturing. In contrast to the common technology-focused approach to this subject, this volume offers a scientific, theoretical account of confectionery manufacture, building on the scientific background of chemical engineering.

The large diversity of both raw materials and end products in the confectionery industry makes it beneficial to approach the subject in this way. The industry deals with a variety of vegetable based raw materials as well as milk products, eggs, gelatin, and other animal-based raw materials. A study of confectionery and chocolate engineering must therefore examine the physical and chemical, as well as the biochemical and microbiological properties of the processed materials.

By characterizing the unit operations of confectionery manufacture the author, who has over 40 years’ experience in confectionery manufacture, aims to open up new possibilities for improvement relating to increased efficiency of operations, the use of new materials, and new applications for traditional raw materials.

The book is aimed at food engineers, scientists, technologists in research and industry, as well as graduate students on relevant food and chemical engineering-related courses.

Confectionery Production will run extracts from the book during the coming months.

Source: Confectionery Production

Chocolate, Confectionery Chocolate, confectionary, Ferenc Mohos, manufacturing

Danisco is launching two new bakery enzymes for keeping different types of bread fresh for up to 10 days, billed as a change in the previous one-enzyme-fits-all approach to anti-staling technology.

The Danish company has offered an enzyme product for use in buns and rolls, called PowerFresh Bun, for a number of years, based on its G4 enzyme technology.

It is now ushering in a new generation of enzymes, called G+, which allows it to take more targeted approach to different kinds of bread. The G+ is used in its two new products, PowerFresh Bread, for use in American-style toast bread; and PowerFresh Special with G+, for use in specialty breads like brioche, panettone and ovals.

Aart Mateboer, business unit director for Danisco Food Enzymes, told  that the G+ has taken about 3 years to develop. It is said to mark a change in the one-enzyme-fits-all approach to anti-staling bread market.

Mateboer said the company will expand the products it is used in in the future. “We will also work with major bakeries to target their individual needs,” he said.

The new enzymes have been tested by an external consultant called 21 Sensory Inc on their freshness attributes. The testers found breads using the enzyme to soft when squeezed after 10 days – but the loaves still kept their shape when stacked on supermarket shelves. Only small quality changes were observed between 4 and 10 days.

They are being launched at the International Baking Industry Expo in Las Vegas next month.

The company is expecting them to prove popular on the US market, which already accounts for some 70 per cent of the anti-staling enzyme market.

They will be available for use globally, however, in powder and easy-to-dose tablet form. Commercial-scale production trials have already been carried out.

Mateboer said they will meet the requirement of the new European enzyme regulation, under which all enzymes will have to go through an approvals process before being launched on the market. That regulation is not yet in force, however, and when it is all previously marketed enzymes will have to go through an assessment.

In the meantime Mateboer said: “We can start selling in Europe tomorrow, with the exception of Denmark and France.”

Denmark and France are the only two EU member states with existing pre-market approval processes for enzymes as processing aids. He said that the G+ enzyme is currently “going through those”.

A new report from Leatherhead Food Research on key players in food additives valued the global enzyme market at US$900m. Bakery and brewing enzymes are said to be leading the innovation push, and demand from Asia Pacific is significant.

Source: Bakery and Snacks

Bakery, Ingredients anti-staling enzyme, bakery enzymes, Danisco

Confectionery Production looks at the latest regulatory developments in the EU and the World Trade Organisation

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) panel has refused to set an advisory limit for the intake of sugar by European Union consumers. EFSA´s panel on dietetic products, nutrition and allergies has concluded in a comprehensive assessment of dietary requirements for EU consumers “there was insufficient evidence to set an upper limit for sugars”. This, it said, was because the possible health effects of eating sugar and sweet foods was “mainly related to patterns of food consumption – such as the types of foods consumed and how often they are consumed – rather than a relation to the total intake of sugars itself.” This is despite the fact the panel agreed high sugar intake increases tooth decay risk. Policymakers should try and influence the kind of sweet foods people eat rather than the amount of sugar, said the panel.

Colouring rule

Separately, EFSA has ruled that the maximum acceptable daily intake of confectionery and bakery product colouring Brown HT (E155) should be halved to 1.5 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight (mg/kg bw). This is because of adverse effects – such as slightly reduced weight gain – in animal tests of the additive.

Meanwhile, the EU Council of Ministers has accepted new EU purity criteria for the sweetener neotame, which would under a proposed regulation be 97 per cent pure or more. It is manufactured by reacting aspartame with 3,3-dimethylbutyraldehyde in methanol using a palladium/carbon catalyst under hydrogen pressure.

Investment news

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend €15 million to Omnicane to build two sugar refineries in Mauritius, also improving sugar storage and handling facilities, while extending an existing mill.

Meanwhile, the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is lending $1.2 million (€953,000) to one of the largest ice cream producers in Turkmenistan, to help expand its distribution network and build its brand. Privately-owned Salkyn produces more than 70 types of ice cream. The loan will help Salkyn buy new retail fridges and refrigerated chambers in its regional distribution hubs.

Russia and Turkey

Also, the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) has released plans to invest €10 million in Russian cake and pastry maker the Hlebprom group. The money would help buy and install new production equipment to boost efficiency and hygiene in the production and packaging process.

It is also planning to lend €40 million to Turkey based Continental Confectionery Company (a joint-venture between Turkey’s Ülker Group and Denmark Gumlink). The money will help investments in a new chewing gum and edible confectionery factory.

By contrast, the European Commission is still pumping money into reducing the amount of sugar produced in the EU budget year 2009 into 2010 for the Sugar Restructuring Fund, which helps European sugar producers switch to making and growing different food products.

Meanwhile, a Commission report on the €26.3 million spent by the EU on improving European honey production has unveiled shortcomings in the management of this spending programme. It calls for “better collaboration between Member States and beekeeping organisations” when planning how to spend this money. It added, “The organisations regret, in particular, that in some cases the lack of collaboration has resulted in the budget not always being used in the most appropriate manner.”

In marketing, the European Commission has continued to expand its list of confectionery and sweet bakery products protected under EU geographical indication legislation. Slovenian cake “Prekmurska gibanica”, a Spanish tart “Tarta de Santiago”, the French apple “Pommes des Alpes de Haute Durance” and the Italian apple “Mela di Valtellina” cannot henceforth be sold in the EU unless produced in their historic home regions using traditional production methods.

Safety concerns

There has been a new variant on safety concerns about selling confectionery-imitating products. Bulgarian regulators banned the sale of a Turkish deodoriser branded Erfres, which was sold as oval white bonbons and “can be confused with a foodstuff by children and swallowed”, warned EU consumer alert service Rapex.

At the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Brazil and India have said they are making good on commitments to open their markets duty-free to the 49 poorest countries worldwide, with the confectionery industry benefiting. New Delhi and Brasilia said cocoa and sugar were key exports that would benefit.

Brazil said by mid-2011, 80 per cent of tariff lines for exports from these mostly African and south Asian countries would be duty free; India said governments had to ask for this status – so far only 14 had – and it wants more applications.

In Washington DC, the Us Trade Representative (USTR) office has reallocated its low duty import quotas for sugar covering 2010, giving more market access to countries with a ready supply of exports. The Dominican Republic was given an additional 15,262 tonnes in quota; Brazil 12,574 tonnes; The Philippines 11,709; Australia 7,197; and Guatemala 4,162, out of a reallocation of 81,946 tons to 25 countries.

Next year, the USA global tariff rate import quota for raw sugar will increase by 200,00 tons, although American sugar producers and users had expected a larger increase. US sugar and producer organisations have been pressing the USTR for an early announcement of details of the 2011 quota to ease arrangements for imports.

World sugar prices

Looking at global prices the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development have predicted world sugar prices to 2019 will be above the average of the previous decade but well below the 29 year highs experienced at the end of 2009. Their latest medium-term market assessment says that unlike some other commodities, sugar prices did not rise steeply in 2007/08 by 10-20 per cent.”

Meanwhile, cocoa and sugar exports from Brazil to the EU could get a boost if free trade talks reopened between the European Commission and the Mercosur trade block in South America (also including Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) are successful. They were suspended in 2004, after nine years, but Brussels is now hopeful of success.

The Commission has also asked EU ministers to suspend until December 2014 all EU duties on any imports of sweetened dried cranberries, because of a European supply shortage.

And, tying up a loose end, the Commission has announced it is spending €190 million in aid to improve banana production in its Caribbean, African and Pacific suppliers – this was part of the December 2009 agreement that ended the long running WTO trade dispute over banana supplies.

Confectionery, Ingredients Confectionery Production, regulations