FiE 2017: Cargill highlights sustainability and healthier reformulation

24 Nov 2017 --- Cargill will offer innovative solutions combining the needs for sustainability and cost optimization, healthier reformulation and label friendliness at this year's FiE in Frankfurt. The focal point of Cargill’s stand will be an inviting “Market Plaza” where food manufacturers will be able to interact with dedicated specialists and discover how Cargill helps fuel sustainable business growth by implementing new ideas and helping customers create successful new products integrating emerging market trends.

“In today’s society, sustainable practices are no longer a ‘nice-to-have’, they are a given requirement,” says Taco Terheijden, director cocoa sustainability at Cargill. “We are seeing a fast-growing trend towards ethical eating and sustainability, growing 36 percent over the last 5 years. At Cargill, our global presence, market insights and supply chain capabilities ensure we are well positioned to deliver more sustainable solutions for our customers.”

Cargill also targets other trends like label friendliness, sodium and calorie reduction, cost optimization, specialized nutrition and plant-based alternatives. “Brands need to be proactive and combine sustainable solutions with other food industry drivers. This is exactly what we do for our customers while increasing speed to market and success rates,” explains Nils Sips, director R&D food ingredients EMEA, Cargill.

Answering these food industry opportunities, Cargill’s Innovation Centres have developed advanced and easy-to-apply prototypes, like a gelled dairy dessert with a new and innovative type of sustainably sourced carrageenan; a highly nutritious drink providing essential nutrients for an aging population; a 30 percent, 50 percent and 70 percent calorie-reduced soft drink; a plant-based frozen dessert containing sustainably sourced coconut oil; 30 percent sugar-reduced pralines and up to 30 percent sodium-reduced potato chips. More than twenty prototypes will be available for tasting in the “Market Plaza,” and visitors will have the chance to discuss their properties and diverse application possibilities with Cargill’s experts.

Cargill will also participate in the Fi Europe Supplier Solutions Seminar: Sébastien Jan, seaweed strategic sourcing project manager, will present on developing a thriving seaweed sector and Cargill’s ambition to develop a transparent global seaweed supply chain.

Cargill Chef Mike Baumer will be using three of the five sauces Cargill has developed for FiE, incorporating their own ingredients, in a series of cooking demonstrations taking place on:

28 November at 11am, 2:30pm and 4pm
29 November at 10:30am, 2:30pm and 4pm
 
The meals he will be preparing are:
• Sauce: Fresh beetroot and chive dip (using SimPure 99560), which he will serve with pitta breads and crudités. Talking points – clean label, new flavors, colorful food.
• Sauce: Gourmet roasted red peppers & balsamic vinegar ketchup (using Pulptex 12931), to be served with Frankfurters (or other German sausage). Talking points – Food with a story, provenance, authentic wholesome textures.
• Wasabi Dressing  (C*Hiform 12748), to be served with seared sirloin steak salad with petit pois. Talking points – Creamy textures in low-fat applications, exotic flavors.

In a recent interview with FoodIngredientsFirst, Managing Director Starches & Sweeteners Europe, Cargill, Alain Dufait said: “We’re working on a whole R&D platform around innovative sweetness solutions. C*TruSweet Plus is an example of using GFS (glucose-fructose syrup) in combination with other high-tech sweeteners, and in the end, still reducing the caloric value of the product.” 

“GFS and the very specific functional and physical properties of that product allow us to create combinations with other sweeteners in our portfolio to basically meet the needs of the end consumer to get innovative lower calorie solutions, and at the same time use the GFS. The broad product offering, broad portfolio and all the combinations within that portfolio are probably an eye opener for those not so familiar with our industry. I do believe that Cargill – but also the rest of the industry – is going to be much more engaged and have many more opportunities to find innovative solutions going forward.”

“The good thing about the ending of the sugar and GFS quota is that we saw this coming several years ago. People are not just starting to work on it now. We have been anticipating all of these changes as an industry and as a value chain. I have to say that we see evidence of this with our customers over a wide variety of products, including beverages. Beverages are an interesting application area and reformulation started with these products because GFS and liquid sweeteners provided the biggest opportunities at first, due to their liquid nature. But we see very interesting evolutions going on in the confectionery, the dairy and ice cream market too, so it’s wide-ranging. Now I would actually say that the market is very actively working together and making sure that we can meet the goals of the EU to reduce added sugars by 10 percent by 2020,” explains Dufait. 

You can listen to the full interview with Dufait in this podcast.