Oils, Gluten-Free in Baking Spotlight

Nov. 10, 2010
Triennial IBIE missed the recession on both ends.

It's only held every three years, so the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) usually does get its share of novel product development, both ingredients and equipment, for the baking category.

This year's event was Sept. 26-29 in Las Vegas. Healthier oils and shortenings and gluten-free products seemed to be the focus of the ingredient side.

Clear Valley omega-3 shortening is a new, on-trend ingredient from Cargill. It can help bakeries differentiate their products by adding an FDA nutrient content claim for ALA omega-3s, which, surveys show, consumers increasingly are looking for.

On the grain side, Cargill's Horizon Milling unit launched "EcoFlour sustainability solutions" – a customizable program that can give processors and farmers not just a flour but also a sustainability claim. It uses satellite imagery and soil sampling to identify the best (read that: minimal) use of fertilizer on fields, improving yields and reducing energy inputs -- and cost. Plus, depending on how the numbers play out, you could make a "green" claim.

Another interesting development from the Minnesota multinational was a new business unit, Cargill Process Optimizers. This new service is weighted toward the plant operations side of food manufacturers, helping them increase yields and capacity and reduce energy and water consumption. Cargill, after all, operates 1,200 of its own facilities around the world, so its engineers have a pretty good idea of how to run a plant. They"ve also developed some proprietary software. For the first time on a broad scale, Cargill shares that know-how as a contract service.

Using enzymatic interesterification, Bunge Oils brought out a new line of shortenings and oils, the UltraBlends EIE line. These soybean-based products eliminate trans fat and optimize saturated fats, while delivering functionality and great taste. They have a wide plasticity range and have a more consistent SFC Curve, creating less variability in firmness of the dough.

By the way, a week after the IBIE show, the company cut the ribbon on the Bunge Ingredient Innovation Center (BIIC) for Edible Oils & Carbohydrates. The Bradley, Ill., facility combines Bunge's food ingredient innovation and pilot plant facilities into one location.

Loders Croklaan launched a line of donut fry products aimed at improving eating quality and production efficiency. SansTrans DF Select frying shortenings eliminate oil migration, a shortcoming in typical commodity donut frying shortenings, making these products ideal for coated donuts. In addition, the improved crystallization properties mean improved eating quality as the melting profile is cleaner and less waxy.

Switching to gluten replacement, ConAgra Mills' continued to plug its Ancient Grains flours. Made from amaranth, millet, quinoa, sorghum and teff, these flours – in stock and in customizable blends – are naturally gluten-free. They also add some important nutrients (protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants) as well as consumer interest. Sample baked goods also used ConAgra's Ultragrain white whole-wheat flour, which combines the nutritional benefits of whole grains with the mainstream appeal of refined flours.

For its gluten-free solution, American Key Food Products turns to the cassava root. King Lion Cassava Flour can be used as a single flour solution, eliminating the need to blend with other flours in most applications. It differs from both tapioca flour – which often is just tapioca starch -- and even other cassava flours on the market, which often are course cassava meal. King Lion has a finer particle size, similar to that of wheat four.

The National Honey Board was there to assist gluten-free product formulators. Using honey as a sweetener provides moisture and flavor improvement to gluten-free baked goods – while also adding functional benefits, color, enzymes, extra browning and a clean, even attractive, label.

In other ingredient news: It was the first trade show-press conference opportunity for the Corn Refiners Assn. to explain its recent FDA petition to change the name of high-fructose corn syrup to corn sugar. Clausen Ely, a regulatory specialist and attorney for the association, noted dextrose currently has approval to use the name corn sugar. But there are so few uses of that term on labels, "we don't anticipate a problem," he said, with FDA approving the term for HFCS.

With integrated milling and processing, 21st Century Grain Processing has long been a supplier of grain-based ingredients. At IBIE, the company put several of its grains (wheat, oats, corn) together into cereal clusters. Visitors to the booth were sampling Chocolate Kitchen Clusters and Honey Kitchen Clusters, both with whole grain oats and other grains. The company now offers custom coated grains and cereal cluster with enhanced texture, flavor bursts and mineral fortification to build a targeted nutritional profile.

Gum Technology Corp. introduced Coyote STARch Pastry Cream Stabilizer, a blend of modified starch, tara gum and carrageenan, that improves the characteristics of pastry cream without adding cost. It provides a smoother and less grain texture than starch alone, company officials say.

Fibersol-2, the soluble dietary fiber from Matsutani LLC and ADM, was a key ingredient in a chocolate chip cookie prototype, which displayed how added fiber can give baked goods a "good source of fiber" claim without negatively impacting taste.

Separately, ADM featured a new sorghum flour in a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie – as well as other flours and milled products, cocoa and chocolate ingredients and VegeFull cooked bean ingredients.

G+ technology was a new addition to the PowerFresh line of bakery enzyme products of Danisco USA. G+ is an amylase-based addition that give specific performance characteristics, foremost among them longer freshness/shelf-life.

Nielsen-Massey Vanillas was showing Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Paste. It's made with the company's Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract with the addition of real seeds from the vanilla pod, combined in a slightly viscous base. It is used whenever the distinctive look of vanilla seeds is desired.

Viterra Food Processing focuses on premium oat and barley ingredients, many of them organic certified.

National Starch showed Homecraft Create 765, a clean-label specialty flour that can reduce fat and costs in baked goods.

Watson's Soft "n" Mighty products include natural and certified organic dough conditioners and a premium bread base.

The Wild Blueberry Association explained the wild but carefully managed crop of unique blueberries, which grow only in Maine and eastern Canada.

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