Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

The addition of starch to sorghum dough could improve certain negative characteristics of gluten-free sorghum bread, according to researchers.

The new study published in LWT – Food Science and Technology, reports that adding fifty per cent cassava starch to sorghum bread gave “the best overall crumb properties”, improving the overall quality of the nutrient-rich gluten free bread.

Ancient grain

Sorghum is one of the world’s oldest known grains, and is one of a range of ancient grains that are naturally gluten-free. It has gained popularity as the market for gluten-free foods has grown, based on its greater nutritional value, compared withother gluten-free flours such as rice, corn or potato flour – however, it has physico-chemical properties that can negatively affect dough quality.

Sorghum dough lacks the consistency and elasticity associated with wheat flour dough, and when cooked, forms extended structures with embedded starch that can affect various technological properties of sorghum bread.

The dough mixture also retains gases produced from fermentation during proofing poorly, often resulting in rigid “brick-like bread with a low volume,” said the researchers.

The addition of starch to sorghum dough is thought to aid the development of a “cohesive crumb network that traps gas bubbles and prevents loss of carbon dioxide and crust collapse,” noted the authors.

Starches from different origins have different compositional and structural properties, and it is known such variance in starches can affect the properties of bread dough.

“It is … reasonable to assume that the botanical origin of starch will affect the rheological and crumb properties of sorghum batter and bread,” wrote the researchers.

The new research tested gluten-free sorghum bread made with varying levels of four different starches (cassava, maize, potato, or rice starch), investigating their effects on the properties of bread.

New study

Crumb properties of sorghum bread were reported to improve with increasing starch content.

Increasing starch content was also seen to change the consistency from soft doughs to thin pourable batters, whilst increasing starch content decreased crumb firmness and chewiness, and increased cohesiveness, springiness and resilience in of all the breads.

The researchers noted that cassava sorghum and rice-sorghum breads had better overall crumb properties than maize-sorghum or potato sorghum breads.

The crumb properties of all breads declined upon storage, however, the formulation containing 50 per cent cassava starch was seen to retain the best overall texture.

Breads made from pourable batters were observed to possess better crumb properties than for those made from soft doughs – bread containing 50 per cent cassava was reported to have the best overall crumb properties.

Source: Bakery and Snacks

Bakery cassava starch, sorghum bread

Purple bamboo salts may improve the chemical and sensory properties of meat products – whilst reducing sodium content, according to researchers.

The new study, published in Meat Science, suggests that meat batters formulated with bamboo salts have better physical, chemical, and sensory properties when compared to batters made with conventional, commercially available sodium chloride.

“Bamboo salts effectively improved the physicochemical properties of the meat batter… Thus bamboo salts may have potential in the food industry,” wrote the researchers, led by Dr. Cheon-Jei Kim, of the Konkuk University, South Korea.

Common use

Commercial salt (sodium chloride – NaCl) is commonly used in the production of meat products because it acts as a flavour enhancer, increasing the intensity of flavours. Salt solutions also extract myosin proteins from muscle fibres – increasing emulsion stability, processing stability, water binding, and yield of meat batters.

However, high salt intake is correlated with hypertension – a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.

As such reducing sodium levels in meat products has become a major goal for manufacturers. But such reductions can have major negative impacts as it can not only reduce the perceived saltiness, but also impair the overall flavour of meat products.

Nevertheless with consumers increasing interest in foods that not only meet nutritional needs, but also offer health benefits, it is important to investigate options for salt replacement, note the authors.

Bamboo salts are produced by placing sea salt in thick bamboo stubs and baking them together with pine tree firewood, the process is suggested to purify the sea salt and infuse the oils from the bamboo.

Ancient bamboo salts were baked two or three times, before being used in traditional medical treatments, however it is now common for bamboo salt to be baked more than nine times before use.

In Korea, bamboo salts are often eaten to promote health, as they are not associated with the health risks of commercial salt and contain additional minerals that have been suggested to offer health benefits.

The new research investigated the effects of bamboo salts on meat batter – using three different batters: one made from conventional NaCl (CON), one with twice-baked bamboo salts (BS-2), and one produced with bamboo salt that was baked nine times (BS-9).

Significant differences

The researchers reported the overall acceptability score between commercial (CON) and bamboo salts (BS-9) to be significantly different. Differences were observed in tenderness, colour, flavour, juiciness and overall acceptability between, with CON having a lower colour and flavour score than the other treatments.

In a texture profile analysis, batter containing BS-9 bamboo salt was observed to have the lowest hardness, and reduced gumminess and chewiness.

Bamboo salts also influenced the physico-chemical properties of the meat batter, the researchers observed that the pH of the batter containing bamboo salt was higher – the authors noted that this is because bamboo salt contains high levels of K, Ca, and alkali minerals.

Bamboo salt meat batters were also seen to have improved water holding capacity (WHC), viscosity, cooking yield, emulsion stability, and texture.

The authors concluded that bamboo salts could have potential uses in the food industry, especially in processed meat products. However they warned that further work investigating the physico-chemical properties of bamboo salt products is needed before they could be safely used in foods.

“Research is needed on the shelf-life of meat products with added bamboo salt because of their higher pH,” added the researchers.

Source: Meat Science

Ingredients, Research bamboo salts, sodium chloride, sodium replacer

Honey powder could potentially be used as a dough improver, and may also act as a sugar replacer in bread, according to new research from China.

The authors of the study, published in the journal Food Research International, said that the addition of honey powder at a level of 5 to 10 per cent improved the baking quality by retarding staling and increasing shelf life.

“Because fructose in honey powder tends to absorb more moisture than sugar, the incorporation of honey powder resulted in higher retention of moisture in bread crumbs, thereby retardating staling and extending the shelf life,” they found.

The researchers also concluded that the ingredient had a desirable effect on the colour development of crust and crumb. “When honey powder was incorporated into the bread, the products had higher volume, softer crumb, and yellower colour,” found the authors, based at Jiangnan University.

The study

Bread samples were prepared using a straight dough method with slight modification.

The authors said the control consisted of 500 g flour, 240 g water, 90 g sugar, 40 g butter oil substitute, 20 g milk powder, 6 g dry baker’s yeast, 6 g bread improver 5 g fine salt, and one egg (total about 50 g).

For the fifteen bread samples containing honey powder, the dough formulation was identical with that of the control bread except for the fact that the sugar was replaced by the honey.

The authors explained that flour, fine sugar, honey powder, milk powder were uniformly mixed in a stirrer using a dough hook, followed by the addition of yeast and bread improver. The dough was prepared in the stirrer for 1 min at 40 rpm, and 10 minutes at 70 rpm after egg and water were added. Final dough temperature was 28 °C.

The dough was rested in bulk for 10 min, divided into pieces of 100 g, rounded by hand (ball shape), and submitted to an extra fermentation period of 10 minutes.

The dough was then kneaded, put in well-greased pans, proofed at 37 °C and 85 per cent relative humidity for 2 hours and baked in an electric oven set at upper temperature 170 °C and down temperature 220 °C for 20 minutes. The bread was removed from the pans and cooled at 25 °C for 1 hour before testing.

Results

After cooling and before storage, there was no obvious difference in crumb hardness between honey and the control bread samples. However, the sugar bread became harder than the honey breads after storage, said the China based team.

The researchers found that honey breads had lower hardness, adhesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness, along with higher springiness and cohesiveness than the control bread after one day of storage.

The increased bread softness as the honey powder content increased may be attributed to the fructose present in honey was more hygroscopic than sugar, added the authors.

“The positive effect of honey powder on yeast activity and gas production during fermentation, in combination with the softening effect promoted by fructose on the gluten proteins led to increase in volume of loaves and longer shelf life.

It appeared that honey powder had a softening effect on crumb hardness,” noted the researchers.

The team also determined that high levels of honey powder – over 10 per cent – could weaken the intension of dough and could cause stickiness problems during kneading, making the dough difficult to work.

Thus, they recommend honey power be added to bread formulation at levels of between 5 to 10 per cent to ensure good sensory characteristics.

Source: Food Research International

Bakery, Research baking, bread, dough improver, honey powder, sugar replacer

Pepperidge Farm Inc. says it will cut the sodium levels in the majority its breads, rolls and bagels by 2011, making it the latest of many food makers to respond to demands for healthier products.

The company, owned by Campbell Soup Co., said the reductions will ultimately result in sodium levels 10 to 33 percent lower in 69 of its U.S. bakery products.

Health experts say Americans eat too much salt and the vast majority is from processed food. That excess is dangerous because sodium can contribute to high blood pressure, which can lead to stroke, kidney disease, heart disease or heart failure.

The issue has become so pressing that the Institute of Medicine issued a report in April that urged the federal government to limit salt allowed in food.

Pepperidge Farm said it has already begun some of the reductions, such as cutting sodium in its original white bread from 225 milligrams per slice to 150 milligrams last year.

Based on positive response to those changes and growing consumer demand, the company said it decided to aim to lower sodium levels 80 percent of its products by February 2011.

“We would like to think we were involved in reducing sodium before it was fashionable,” said Bibi Wu, business director for Pepperidge Farm Fresh Bakery.

A number of food makers have announced recently that they are lowering sodium in their products based on consumer demand and increasing scrutiny by health groups. Bumble Bee Foods, General Mills Inc., PepsiCo Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. all announced sodium reductions to their products in this spring alone.

Campbell has been cutting sodium for years. It makes more than 200 reduced-sodium products, an eight-fold increase compared to just five years ago, when the company offered 25.

Lowering sodium levels in canned soup, notoriously high in salt, is one thing. Doing the same in the bakery was a notable achievement, given that complex role salt plays in bread — affecting flavor, texture, shelf life and interacting with the yeast that helps it rise.

“Neither one is easy,” said David Smith, vice president of research and development and quality assurance for Pepperidge Farm. “It’s very complex.”

The company said it relied on the move to sea salt, which Campbell used in its soups, to help make the transition.

Source: The Associated Press.

Bakery, Companies, Health breads, campbells pepperidge farm, reduce salt

With a global network of 29 research and development (R&D) centres, Nestlé has recently announced its plans to establish its 30th R&D centre in India. The facility will be built in Manesar, close to Nestlé India’s headquarters in Gurgaon, and will be operational by July 2012. The company has planned an investment of around Rs 230 crore in developing the centre, which will have an area of around 2,00,000 sq.ft.

The new centre will focus on popularly positioned products (PPPs), especially for India. PPPs are the ones that meet the specific needs of consumers with lower income levels, by offering them high-quality, nutritionally enhanced products at affordable prices. “Nestlé India has benefited from its global R&D network, with innovative PPPs such as Maggi Noodles and Chotu Munch chocolate confectionery,” said Antonio Helio Wasyzk, CMD, Nestlé India, while making the announcement.
“This new centre will facilitate innovation in a wide variety of foods, including culinary, cereals beverages and dairy products,” said Klaus Zimmermann, head of Nestlé R&D centres worldwide.

“Nestlé India is the country’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company. Our continuous access to Nestlé’s global R&D has significantly contributed to our performance and Nestlé’s decision to establish an R&D centre in India will provide additional competitive advantage in the future. It will help us to accelerate the company’s growth and contribute towards reducing nutritional deficiencies in India,” said Wasyzk.

Highlighting the importance of R&D in the company’s growth, he shared last year over a third of all Nestlé sales came from the innovations launched since 2007.
Revealing further details, Zimmermann said, “The site has been chosen for its proximity to Nestlé India’s headquarters. The proximity will help in facilitating cross-functional team work and ensure the R&D programme is relevant. The centre in India will initially have a team of about 40 scientists and engineers and we expect this number to grow significantly in the coming years.”

The Manesar R&D centre will work in collaboration with Nestlé’s research centres in Switzerland and Singapore, the product technology centre in Germany and the centre facilitating research in the Unites States. Besides, the centre will also work in association with Indian universities and research institutes in order to expand its knowledge-base and fast-track innovation.

Sharing Nestlés approach towards the much debated genetically modified (GM) food ingredients, Zimmermann said, “We have always followed the policies accepted by consumers in their respected countries and we will do the same in India as well. However, we are open to the use of GM foods/crops as we feel that in the long run this technology will provide food security.”

Apart from the plans for the R&D centre, Wasyzk said the company was investing around Rs 350 crore in building up a manufacturing unit for noodles in Karnataka “and in the future we plan to open more such factories”.

Companies India, Nestle, R&D

A group of scientists led by confectioner Mars, IBM and the US Department of Agriculture is released their research into the preliminary genome sequence for the cacao tree.

The particular cultivar that was sequenced – Matina 1-6 – forms the basis of 99% of the world’s cocoa, and is a promising first step in advancing farmers’ ability to plant more robust, higher yielding and drought and disease-resistant trees.

“Genome sequencing helps eliminate much of the guess-work of traditional crop cultivation,” says Howard-Yana Shapiro, Ph.D., global staff officer of plant science and research at Mars.

Ajay Royyuru, senior manager at IBM Computational Biology Center, says, “By assembling the sequence fragments into the complete genome sequence and developing a detailed genetic map, we can help maximize the potential yield and income for cocoa farmers and catalyze future research and endeavours involving the cacao tree.”

The results of the research will be made available to the public with permanent access via the Cacao Genome Database www.cacaogenomedb.org.

Chocolate, Research cocoa, genome sequence

Increased consumer awareness of the potential health benefits of vitamin D is opening up opportunities in fortification, according to results of a new survey.

The proportion of American consumers believe that vitamin D plays a great role in maintaining or improving their health has increased to 44 percent, up from 37 percent last year, according to a US survey conducted by Angus Reid Strategies for Lallemand.

But while consumers may be more aware of the benefits, their interest for vitamin D-rich foods appears to focus on bread that naturally rich in vitamins (56 percent) than fortified bread (6 percent).

Vitamin D refers to two biologically inactive precursors – D3, also known as cholecalciferol, and D2, also known as ergocalciferol. The former is produced in the skin on exposure to UVB radiation (290 to 320 nm). The latter is derived from plants and only enters the body via the diet.

Both D3 and D2 precursors are hydroxylated in the liver and kidneys to form 25- hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), the non-active ‘storage’ form, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D), the biologically active form that is tightly controlled by the body.

While our bodies do manufacture vitamin D on exposure to sunshine, the levels in some northern countries are so weak during the winter months that our body makes no vitamin D at all, meaning that dietary supplements and fortified foods are seen by many as the best way to boost intakes of vitamin D.

One such option is bread, being a staple of many cultures. Jean Chagnon, CEO of Lallemand, supplier of vitamin D-rich bakers’ yeast, pointed to recent findings from Professor Christel Lamberg-Allardt from Helsinki University that found that bread baked with a baker’s yeast containing vitamin D2 maintained blood levels of the vitamin to approximately the same extent as a D2 supplement over a four-week period.

“Bakers using our yeast therefore have a head start in helping meet this important dietary requirement,” said Chagnon. “In addition, we expect to receive soon a positive response to our FDA petition aiming to amend the current regulations to allow levels of up to 400 IU of vitamin D per 100 grams of baked foods using our yeast.

“This will provide bakers with an even greater opportunity to respond to the growing consumer awareness of vitamin D’s benefits, allow bread to naturally become the primary dietary source of vitamin D (perhaps ahead of milk) and strengthen bread’s healthy attributes,” he said.

Other findings from the survey included the findings that the most common vitamin D-rich food source is milk (74 percent), followed by yogurt (40 percent), orange juice (21 percent) and cereals (18 percent). However, only 10 percent of the respondents perceived bread as a source of vitamin D.

Bakery, Ingredients Bakery, Vitamin D, yeast

Enrichment of bread flour with large particle dietary fibres may lead to low GI breads, according to researchers.

The study, published in LWT – Food Science and Technology, suggests using a ten per cent replacement of larger particle, high viscoelastic, dietary fibres (DFs) may result in breads with lower GI values, and good physical and sensory properties.

“Basic investigations of the physicochemical properties of dietary fibres and their implications on food specific functional properties are crucial to exploit the added value of DFs as both a key nutritional factor and a functional ingredient in foods,” wrote the researchers, led by Dr. Concha Collar, from the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (CSIC), in Spain.

Nutritional factor

Dietary fibres are a key nutritional factor in a healthy diet, and are recognised for their beneficial physiological effects such as reducing the digestive absorption of glucose and cholesterol.

Viscous DFs – polysaccharides such as gums, pectin, psyllium, and beta-glucans – have been associated with slower gastric emptying, extended transit time through the small intestine, and modifying starch digestion – consequently altering the Glycaemic Index (GI) of starch-based foods.

Careful selection of DFs with suitable physico-chemical properties is an important factor in bread-making applications, noted the authors

The new study investigates DFs effects on bread technological functional and nutritional properties in order to better understand the effects of substitution.

Functional properties

Researchers reported that few technological or functional properties were found to depend on dietary fibre characteristics, whilst most nutritional bread properties were affected by DFs molecular characteristics, complex viscosity, and solvent retention capacity.

Dietary fibres with larger particle size resulted in “highly sensory acceptable breads with higher amounts of resistant starch and slightly lower protein digestibility,” according to the researchers.

They reported DFs with a high viscoelastic profile and complex viscosity produced breads with better sensory perception, and lower digestible starch, resulting in lower GI values and reduced protein digestibility.

Strict link

The researchers concluded the structural make up of dietary fibre, and the physiological and technological functional properties of food matrix are “strictly linked together”.

“In bread making applications, a careful selection of DFs with suitable physicochemical properties preventing permanent disruption of the protein matrix is a pre-requisite to obtain sensorially accepted breads in highly substituted flour systems,” they wrote

“The development of … dietary fibre-rich cereal products exhibiting nutritional added value, safety, tasty palatability, convenience and easy handling during processing, closely depend on the proper knowledge of the physico-chemical properties of the polymeric DFs,” concluded the researchers

Source: LWT – Food Science and Technology

Bakery, Research bread flour, fibre, GI breads

The nutrition labelling landscape is constantly evolving, and although final decisions on various global regulations are unlikely to be made over the next year, food manufacturers need to strategize for a number of potential outcomes, according to a new report.

The Future of Nutrition Labelling for Food and Drinks in Europe was published by Business Insights last month to provide an overview of the nutrition labelling options being considered internationally.

“Front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labeling regulations will have a huge impact on the marketing of healthy food and drink. The rules about what you can and cannot claim will change. For brands that are built around a specific claim, this will mean changing the entire brand strategy, not just the packaging and marketing approach,” writes the analyst.

?”Companies need to be more forward-thinking and ready to react to FOP regulatory change as soon as it becomes effective will be the most successful over the next two to three years.”

Highlighting nutrients

National dietary guidelines around the world have largely focused on highlighting four nutrients, recommending moderate consumption of these: fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt.

However, the way in which this information should be presented has long been an area of contention, with one of the biggest criticisms of voluntary labeling schemes being that they create consumer confusion.

The report highlights findings from the European Consumers’ Association (BEUC; Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs), which reveal that a system of colour-coding on the front of processed food packaging is best understood by consumers.

This kind of system would use red, amber and green ‘traffic lights’ to concisely display whether the key nutrients of fat, saturated fats, sugars and salt are high, medium or low.

Taking the lead?

However, the analyst highlights that at the end of March 2010, the European Parliament Environment Committee decided against making the use of a traffic light system mandatory, and that EU member states may adopt their own national rules.

“It therefore seems likely that manufacturers will take the lead in selecting the (…) national rules,” writes Business Insight.

“Sweden’s Keyhole FOP labelling system is frequently cited as a best-practice example that has stood the test of time in the global debate. First established in Sweden in 1989, it became accepted as a Nordic label for healthier food and drink in Denmark, Sweden and Norway on June 17, 2009.”

packaging nutrition labelling

Unilever said its deal with leading supplier, Unimills, for segregated certified sustainable palm oil represents a small start for the Dutch food and personal care group but takes the company in the right direction in terms of its 2015 total palm oil usage sourcing pledge.

Gavin Neath, senior vice president of sustainability at Unilever said the company was not willing to disclose the precise volumes of segregated palm oil that the food group was sourcing from Unimills but he stressed that Unilever was now ahead of its plan to derive all of its palm oil from Rountable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified plantations within a five year timeframe.

He told this publication that this goal was achievable, particularly now as agricommodity giants Cargill along with Unimills and another leading supplier, IOI, have been landing segregated certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) in Rotterdam.

“We expect an acceleration in the quantities of CSPO coming onto the market, as these companies now recognise the industry demand for this form of the ingredient,” added Neath.

Unimills sources the CSPO for Unilever from its parent company, Sime Darby, whose plantations in Malaysia are RSPO backed.

The CSPO is processed into specialty fats that are then sent to Unilever for use in its food or personal care range.

Neath said that a great percentage of the snack, margarine and soup mix manufacturer’s products contained the oil, but he would not be drawn on exact figures. Industry experts estimate that around one third of all food and personal care items sold in supermarkets contain the controversial ingredient.

There are serious concerns about the effect of the palm oil industry on the environment, as intensive plantations have cleared habitats for endangered species like tigers and orangutans in South Asia, while also adding to carbon emissions.

When asked by this publication if Unilever had a strategy in place to reformulate its products to allow for a reduction in the amount of palm oil used by the company, Neath stressed that the ingredient offered unmatched cost efficiencies compared to other vegetable oils and the food group was intent on continuing to use it.

“Palm oil can be six to ten times more productive than sunflower oil, and if it is cultivated correctly it can be a sustainable crop. That is what we, and our partners in the RSPO, are working towards,” he explained.

The RSPO was set up in 2004 to promote sustainable palm oil use – and changing to palm oil that is sustainable or supports green palm certification has become a major trend for food manufacturers and retailers.

UK advocates Sustain said that it is good news that multinationals have at last started to acknowledge that some palm oil production is the result of rainforest devastation but Greenpeace and others have raised concerns that the RSPO mark is not yet a guarantee that palm oil will have come from a truly sustainable source.

According to Neath, the RSPO, of which Unilever is a founding member, makes every effort to ensure that it can stand over its certification of a palm oil producer as sustainable, but he concurs that there is an element of truth in the NGOs’ view of the organisation as not being as efficient as it could be.

However, he said that, currently it is the only institution of its type that exists and it is beholden on Unilever and its partners to make the RSPO more rigorous.

“It takes a while for a strong infrastructure to be built up in an organisation such as this,” argues Neath. “It is important to remember that it was only the back end of 2008 that the RSPO was able to certify the first batch of CSPO. Now it is certifiying segregated sustainable palm oil in the region of two million tonnes,” he continued.

Sime Darby acting president and group CEO, Dato Mohd Bakke, said that to date 15 of its strategic operating units have been awarded the RSPO certification, and that these have the capacity to produce over 500,000 tonnes of CSPO.

Source: Bakery and Snacks

Companies, Ingredients segregated palm oil, Unilever, Unimills