New Ingredients From the IFT Show

July’s IFT FIRST food expo and annual meeting had sessions on artificial intelligence, feeding the world and emerging proteins. But the focal point of this show always is the ingredients. The overwhelming majority of exhibitors are ingredient suppliers, and many of them save new product introductions for this show. Following are a few of them:

Vitessence Pea 100 HD is Ingredion’s new pea protein optimized for cold-pressed bars. It helps maintain the softness of bars throughout their shelf life, provides other preferred texture and sensory attributes and adds nutritional value to boost consumer preference. It also delivers a minimum of 84% protein on a dry basis, which helps to enable “good” or “excellent” source of protein claims. It functions like whey or soy protein.

In an effort to showcase how color impacts the perception of flavor, GNT allowed visitors to build a snack using five different savory, salty or sweet bases; then add up to six seasonings featuring on-trend flavors, such as African Spice Mix and Yuzu Aji Amarillo; and finally to add GNT’s Exberry colors made from non-GMO fruits, vegetables and plants. A few weeks after the show, GNT teamed with UK’s Plume Biotechnology to develop colors using fermentation.

Hormel Ingredient Solutions’ samples emphasized the company’s Burke brand of pizza toppings and other fully cooked meats. There were Albondigas Meatballs (made with Burke pork and beef with Albondigas-style seasonings); Roma Fundido (featuring Burke’s Hand-Pinched-style cooked sausage); Three-Meat Breakfast Quiche (with breakfast sausage, bacon pieces and IQF diced ham); and Italian Wedding Pizza (using pork & beef wedding soup-style meatballs as the topping).

Bunge used the show to unveil Beleaf PlantBetter in North America, a plant-based alternative that matches the sensory qualities and versatile functionality of traditional dairy butter and can easily be integrated in current production processes. The company claims it achieves the same aeration, volume and taste required for products such as croissants, cakes and more, which have been challenges for most butter substitutes. The ingredient enjoyed a successful European launch in 2023.

Experts from Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America spoke in a scientific session about “Kokumi’s Untapped Potential.” “One of the functions of kokumi compounds is to strengthen the signals between taste receptors and the brain, which ultimately increases the intensity of sweet and umami tastes,” said Elizabeth Morrow, principal food scientist. The company promoted its MSG and a wide variety of other fermentation-derived flavor and texture ingredients.

Who knew that a rich, cheesy, buttery mac & cheese could also have the cleaner label that consumers are looking for? Butter Buds used the classic dish to show off its Cheese Buds Simple Cheddar Cheese Concentrate and Butter Buds Simple Concentrate CL.

ResilientRed BF is the latest in the Lycored coloration collection. The super stable color is heat-resistant, but also vegan and plant-based friendly. Derived naturally from Lycored’s own breed of tomatoes, it is an alternative to artificial and animal-derived color products and is Whole Foods- compliant. The company suggests UHT dairy, plant-based beverages and meats and surimi seafood products for applications.

Sweegen debuted Tastecode Natural Flavor Technologies, taste tools that address specific taste challenges and optimize the sensory experience at the molecular level.

Grande Custom Ingredients created warm, chocolate chunk cookies, made with its new ingredient Durato, which helps keeps sweet baked goods fresh longer. It can replace dairy powders to improve and maintain texture and provide clean dairy notes in sweet baked goods such as cookies, muffins, bars and cakes. Durato is shear tolerant, freeze-thaw stable and clean label.

Sethness Roquette Caraness Specialty Caramels are crafted for use in dairy, bakery and confectionery applications, and can be customized for your product.