“Consumers are more aware of nutritional values, but they also want tasty, enjoyable food”, says David Landau of Food Ingredients Technologies. “For example, less salt and sugar in the products, but not at the expense of flavour.”

THE CONSUMER WANTS TASTY, ENJOYABLE FOOD.

“Consumers are more aware of nutritional values, but they also want tasty, enjoyable food”, says David Landau of Food Ingredients Technologies. “For example, less salt and sugar in the products, but not at the expense of flavour.”

A significant trend in the food industry is the development of products with lower salt and sugar contents and without, or with as few as possible, additives and colourings. The taste and texture of the products must be retained during product development. “We are usually involved from the very beginning of developments in our clients’ projects”, says the founder and owner of Food Ingredients Technologies, David Landau. “This creates a bond of trust: it’s easy for companies to come to us when new developments are planned or quality issues need to be resolved.”

This ingredient supplier’s core business is the creation of functional and aromatic solutions for food companies. “We are ‘hyper-flexible’ and deliver custom solutions to the client”, adds Landau. “Food Ingredients Technologies consists of a team of six highly-trained, application -focused technologists, who are familiar with health and sustainability aspects and with statutory regulations. Synthetic flavourings are being used less and less and are being replaced by natural flavourings. Today, 85% of our flavourings are already natural.” Clean labels without E numbers, vegan and protein-rich are the other trends that Landau is observing in the market. One example of this supplier’s innovative ingredients is a natural salt enhancer in powder form. A dose of 0.05 - 0.3% provides the same salt intensity but with a 40% reduction in salt. Its applications are, for example, meat products, sauces and vegetable preparations. Landau also refers to a spray-dried mushroom concentrate, Umami Culiflow, of which a 0.2 - 2% dose is sufficient in soups, sauces and ready meals, for example. “We developed this 100% natural ingredient as an alternative to salt and artificial flavour enhancers in partnership with the Dutch company Scelta.”