Alland & Robert’s high-density gum granules to improve logistics and lower carbon footprint

07 Feb 2024 --- Alland & Robert has unveiled its fourth production line of acacia gum at its plant in Normandy, France and launched “Beyond Acacia” — a highly soluble gum with granularity that confers better hydration properties than a standard gum. Leveraging a cash injection of over €11 million (US$11.8 million), the facility is expected to drive its production capacity by 50% while lowering GHG emissions by 51.1%.

The high-density acacia gum granules with “innovative technical characteristics” will be manufactured at the site.

“Beyond Acacia combines two major innovations: environmental exemplarity with a carbon footprint reduced to its minimum on all scopes and technological excellence with gum acacia in high-density granules that efficiently improve the user process, Violaine Fauvarque, communications and sustainability manager, tells Food Ingredients First.

“Thanks to an excellent dispersion, solubilization and wettability, Beyond Acacia is easier to use and requires less energy and time in the user process, which means energy and carbon savings.”

Low emissions with easy dissolution
The Saint-Aubin sur Gaillon facility first opened in 2007 and is now expanded. The site has a new drying tower and workshop added to the two existing towers, doubling the production facility from 8,000 m² to 16,000 m², enabling the company to meet the spike in global demand.

Beyond Acacia’s dispersion, solubilization and wettability properties make it easier to use, says Fauvarque (Image credit: Alland & Robert).As per the company, the Beyond Acacia range developed at the facility shows an improved energy performance in the manufacturing process, lower emissions and a 13.5% reduction in upstream and downstream emissions. These aspects are verified by an independent consulting firm specializing in carbon footprint calculations.

“The high density of the granules will also positively impact the logistics carbon footprint in terms of packaging, freight and storage. In addition, Beyond Acacia has a much lower carbon footprint than standard gum acacia, which means a reduction in scope 3 of the carbon footprint of the users,” underscores Fauvarque.

The ingredient offers improved solubility and dispersion capacity, which reduces energy use during the end user’s industrial process, as their production phase will require less time and energy to complete. 

“In addition, these granules dissolve completely without being heated, even at high levels of concentration,” highlights the company.

Using an innovative processing procedure, the gum’s granularity ensures “excellent hydration properties” — marketed as “superior to those of a standard gum” — maximizing the dispersion process’s efficiency. It also offers optimized solubility at low temperatures. 

“The occurrence of foam during this process is reduced, as are quantities of particles, which also improves fluidity and reduces the occurrence of graininess.”

Gum acacia finds applications in dietary and baked products (Image credit: Atelier MBB).At the local level, the new production line is expected to create over 30 jobs with exports to over 70 countries.

Plant-forward applications
Acacia gum also holds significant potential for development in various industries with an underlying preference for natural and plant-based products, highlights Alland & Robert.

This product addresses a pressing issue for food manufacturers, particularly manufacturers of confectionery, gummies and other marshmallows, where many of these products call for gelatin as an ingredient usually made from animal-derived collagen.

“Digestive health, sustainability, and low carbon products are the newest trends, but the development of natural, healthy and vegetal products is a trend that’s still going very strong,” says Fauvarque.

In acacia gum innovations, Alland & Robert’s Syndeo Gelling — a vegan texture and gelling agent is based on gum acacia mixed with natural hydrocolloids of plant origin. It is labeled 100% natural and vegetal and provides texturizing, thickening, stabilizing, and binding qualities for substituting non-vegan gelling agents in gummies, jelly sweets, marshmallows and mousses.

Isabelle Jaouen, R&D director at Alland & Robert, recently discussed the company’s developments in acacia.In 2021, the company’s ethically produced acacia gum derived from the Senegal variety of acacia trees went up for online sales in France. Home cooks can use the ingredient as an emulsifier or a vegan stabilizer or to add fiber to their diet, which was declared a dietary fiber in the US by the Food and Drug Administration the same year.

Alland & Robert’s Applicative Research Team is working on developing the usages of gum acacia in many day-to-day products such as dietary and baked products, supplements and cosmetics, Fauvarque tells us.

In other sector developments, natural ingredient supplier Nexira has also delved into acacia gum research in line with its potential to improve F&B’s nutritional profile. It recently bolstered its acacia fiber processing capacity with a US$10 million investment.

By Insha Naureen