Cargill: “Further Challenges to Soy Market will Drive Demand for Sunflower Lecithin”

01 May 2014 --- Cargill anticipates a drive for sunflower-based lecithin in the coming years, as the availability of non-GM soy declines further. Non-GM soy crops are increasingly at risk of contamination from GM variants and in addition, unfavourable weather conditions are likely to impact some soy producing nations, according to the company’s EMEA Product Manager, Fluid Lecithin.

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Thorston Bornholdt explained that countries such as Brazil are increasingly moving into GM crops for soy, with only about 10% of the total crop now dedicated to conventional soy. “It is becoming extremely difficult to segregate these crops and there is a rising risk of contamination,” he explained.

European manufacturers therefore have been increasingly looking to other nations for a non-GM supply of soy, and countries such as India have seen a huge demand. “India hasn’t yet approved GM soy,” said Bornholdt. “But there is limited supply of soy crops in India as soy needs to be grown in arid regions. Next season is expected to be challenging because it is believed there will be an El Nino effect there, where monsoons will impact on crops.”

This is also likely to put prices for the whole market of non-GM soy under pressure. Sunflower, though, “could be more flat out on pricing”, he stated. “For the end customer, it is therefore beneficial to have a nature-derived alternative to soy, such as sunflower,” he said.

Cargill is experiencing increased demand for its Topcithin sunflower lecithin, a clean label non-GM emulsifier, as more manufacturers seek out alternatives to soy. Sunflower seeds are not amongst the common causes of food allergy, so Topcithin™ is not subject to allergen labelling requirements, unlike soy-derived varieties.

Cargill recently announced it had obtained approval for the use of sunflower lecithin in Japan, following four years of trying to break into this market.

In Japan sunflower lecithin is expected to be highly attractive for the thriving confectionery markets, and domestic producers may take up the ingredient for new product innovation. “However, our main goal in securing Japan has been to support our top branded customers, who wish to export to this region,” Bornholdt explained. “Products are generally manufactured in Europe or North America and exported to Japan. At the moment many have stuck with soy in order to avoid running a separate production line purely for the Japanese market, but now they have an opportunity to also look at sunflower.”

As well as seeking non-GM soy alternatives and ingredients which are not on the list of common food allergens, manufacturers have also shown an interest in sunflower lecithin to tap into growth for nature-derived products, according to Bornholdt. “It is increasingly being used as a replacement for semi-synthetic emulsifiers,” he said.

Japan is an interesting market because despite its size in relation to much bigger developed countries it has 4% of the global food market in volume. In addition confectionery is a big market, accounting for a third of this volume, Bornholdt explained.

Cargill Texturizing Solutions commissioned studies from leading Japanese research company INA Research Inc. to fulfil the conditions for use from the country’s food authorities. After working closely with the Japanese government’s approval panels for three years, official approval of sunflower lecithin (E322) as a food additive was published on 10 April 2014.