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Key Takeaways
- Edlong joined the Flavor and Texture consortium to tackle challenges with plant-based ingredients in food.
- The consortium aims to improve taste, texture, and nutritional value in plant-based products through collaboration.
- Edlong uses findings from this consortium to create innovative flavor solutions that address off-tastes and texture issues.
- They launched new masking solutions at IFT that cater to both plant-based and dairy applications.
- Collaboration with industry experts allows Edlong to enhance their knowledge and innovation in food flavor technology.
In 2021, Edlong, along with several other international companies and organizations, joined the “Reducing Flavour and Texture Issues with Legume-based Foods and Ingredients” consortium.
This consortium aims to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges associated with plant-based ingredients and their effects on taste and texture. In addition, these efforts cover a range of food and beverage applications.
The Flavor and Texture consortium partners are Biospringer by Lesaffre, Danone, Brabender, Bunge, Edlong Flavors, Ebro Ingredients, Ruitenberg Ingredients, HAS Green Academy and NIZO. NIZO coordinates this consortium, which is supported by the Dutch government’s Topsector Agri & Food initiative (TKI).
Continued Growth of Plant-Gased Products in the Market
Edlong’s goal in participating in this consortium is to leverage the collective knowledge of its members to help support the continued growth of plant-based products in the market. Furthermore, by translating the vast amounts of data into tailored flavor solutions, our customers will be better able to overcome their plant-based taste challenges. This will help them create delicious products that deliver on consumers’ needs and expectations.
As a flavor company, we understand that we are often only one small piece of the larger puzzle. Also, participating in this consortium allows us to actively collaborate with leading industry and research experts. Through this, we can unlock the true potential of everything plant-based can be.
“For me personally, playing an active role in this group has been a great way to collaborate, innovate and build relationships. At Edlong, we pride ourselves on knowing as much about ingredients and applications as we do about flavours, and this has been a great way to learn and ideate with amazing partners.
Improving Taste and Texture
Bringing the learnings back to Edlong and working with our VP of R&D, Dr. Bernd Koehler and his team to create and innovate new solutions has been such an exciting part of this journey, and we are looking forward to sharing the fruits of this labour with our customers.” says Anne Marie Butler, Edlong’s Global Director of Strategy and Innovation.
While improving taste and texture remain the top issues for consumers[1] of plant-based products, enhancing nutritional value is also becoming a priority for many. Approximately 1 in 3 consumers of both plant-based dairy and meat alternatives believed that improving nutrition was of significant concern[2]. However, many plant-based ingredients used for fortifying these products, particularly proteins, can create unwanted off-tastes and texture challenges.
Moreover, with 83% of consumers saying they are interested in increasing protein in their diet[3], Edlong sees overcoming these potential issues as crucial for the success of our customers and the market as a whole.
Dr. Bernd Koehler, Edlong VP of R&D, believes that the resources of this consortium have been invaluable in achieving that aim, “Through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project led by NIZO, we found that certain flavour compounds inherent to dairy and dairy-type flavors can mask the astringency and bitterness of food and beverages containing pea and fava bean proteins.
This collaborative research is critically important to solving tough technical challenges and common problems that no single partner would be able to solve alone. For Edlong, these mutual partnerships provide access to state-of-the-art capabilities. They also help to accelerate our innovations in flavor technologies.”
Better Masking Flavours
Echoing that praise, Julie Drainville, Edlong Sensory Manager, says, “Our collaboration with NIZO and partnering companies has helped to expand our knowledge of plant-based proteins, to understand them from a chemical standpoint and how processing has an impact.
We use this information to develop even better masking flavours to reduce off notes and enhance the overall eating quality of the foods these proteins will be used in. Edlong hopes that working together with NIZO and through similar partnerships, we can be a part of driving the food supply to a more sustainable and nutritious future.”
Already, we have been able to translate the knowledge and learnings we’ve attained into a new range of masking solutions. Launched at IFT, these maskers are able to address challenges in both the plant-based and dairy spaces. While there are no one-size-fits-all approaches to delivering great-tasting products, these new solutions, along with expert advice from our skilled application scientists, can provide developers with the perfect starting point for their projects.
Talk to us today about your challenges and how we can help you create unique and incredible-tasting products your consumers will love.