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AB Enzymes is launching what it calls the “next generation” bakery shelf-life extending enzyme, which is coming to market just days after the expiration of a patent that has so far dominated the market.

The firm’s Veron xTender product is a maltogenic amylase preparation, said to help improve and extend crumb softness, elasticity and freshness of bread.

Derived from bacillus subtilis, the enzyme breaks down flour starch by modifying the side chains of amylopectin. According to AB Enzymes, this slows down the retrogradation of products, delivering better overall freshness than previously available maltogenic amylase products in the market.

Protected market

The launch has been made possible by the recent expiration of a competing patent, explained the firm.

“Some European enzyme supplies were blocked on maltogenic amylase for many years by a patent that expired just a few days ago. This means that the market was previously dominated by only one European enzyme supplier,” AB Enzymes told FoodNavigator.com.

The new product will be available in all global markets except the US, where the existing patent protection extends to 2018.

Bread improvers

Veron xTender is a single strength product designed for use in bread improvers. It is said to be easy to incorporate into existing improver formulations since it has a broad dosage range.

AB Enzymes says this allows it to work “without any negative impact on the dough properties or processing parameters other than providing the desired shelf-life extending effect in the final baked product”.

“With Veron xTender we can finally meet our customers’ previously unmet demand for an alternative product and at the same time provide superior quality and value as well as a technically sound solution,” said Norman Burkardt, Industry Manager for the Veron brand at AB Enzymes.

“It will offer a much better performance, besides better softness it is in particular a better freshness and tenderness of the crumb, which is the key differentiator compared to previously used maltogenic amylases,“ the firm told FoodNavigator.com.

Source: Food Navigator

Ingredients AB Enzymes, bacillus subtilis, Bread improvers, shelf-life extender

AB Enzymes has entered a partnership with The Ingredients Company for sole distribution of its baking enzymes in the United States and Canada in order to strengthen its presence in the region.

The company said the agreement will improve its customer relations and help it to accelerate growth in North America, as well as increase the reach of its Veron baking enzyme range, which has multiple uses in flour improvement and milling.

AB Enzymes already has a US headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, but until now, it was working with a distributor covering only the Mideast region.

“After assessing several candidates, the benefit with [The Ingredients Company] was that they already supply baking ingredients in North America and they can cover the whole of the United States and Canada,” said Pieter-Jan Heykoop, sales development manager baking at AB Enzymes.

He told FoodNavigator-USA.com that the new partnership would provide AB Enzymes with a better market presence in North America – including smaller accounts – and it will supply enzymes to the milling market and the bread improvement market, but not to industrial bread manufacturers.

Heykoop said that a major benefit of using Veron baking enzymes is “optimum use of what is naturally present in flour” to provide faster throughput in the factory, to make higher quality bread, to increase shelf life, or to increase bread volume.

“This can also be done with other ingredients, but the benefit of enzymes is that you use a natural process that gives optimum use of the flour,” he said. “…When a manufacturer starts to bake, the enzyme is deactivated, so there is no need to label it.”

The Ingredients Company already supplies baking ingredients in North America and has conveniently-located warehouses throughout the region, AB Enzymes said.

AB Enzymes supplies its products to more than 50 countries and is part of ABF Ingredients Group, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods.

Companies AB Enzymes, baking enzymes, The Ingredients Company