Cargill launches de-oiled rapeseed lecithin as consumers demand clean and non-GMO ingredients

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Dr. Roland Rabeler, Lecithin Product Manager for Cargill Starches, Sweeteners & Texturizers maintains that this launch is not a shift away from soy lecithin, but an additional offering to the market. “We have a balanced portfolio and we have lecithin from a wide variety of botanical sources, non-GM and GM soy, from sunflower, as well as rapeseed now, and what we want to do is provide something to the market as an add-on not necessarily as a replacement.”

“There is virtually no difference in functional performance of both soy and rapeseed lecithin. We have tested rapeseed against sunflower lecithin, also against soy lecithin in a variety of applications, and we have noted equivalent functionality. It's more about the labeling needs and the needs of the market that we are answering rather than a functional deficit to fill,” he explains.
 

According to Dr. Rabeler, the non-GMO advantage is significant. “We are currently seeing this as a major trend. There is a move towards non-GMO as well as non-allergen claims for applications and also what we see parallel to this is a general move away from artificial ingredients and considerable interest in lecithin,” he notes. “Customers want to have a non-GMO solution and also a non-allergen solution which allows them to have full flexibility of label claims.”
 

This ingredient can be labeled as rapeseed lecithin and also canola lecithin, but also it can be more generally labeled as lecithin,” says Dr. Rabeler.
 

“This is globally available now, we do see a preference in European and North American markets, in Asia there is no real tendency to move away from soy currently,” he adds. The focus for Cargill is Europe and North America.
 

“We can now offer much more flexibility to our customers, the market has been turbulent in the past with regards to other lecithin and you could see there were some issues around trust,” he states. “With the new rapeseed solutions, we want to give that confidence back to our customers and develop what they aim to achieve.  So, at Cargill, we want to provide them with safe, reliable solutions without supply chain risks coming from Europe that deliver on those European needs.”
 

“In a world of increasingly label-conscious consumers, we are striving to meet the demand for simple ingredients and provide the familiarity consumers are looking for related to food origin from trusted, reliable sources,” explains Dr. Rabeler. “With the introduction of the de-oiled rapeseed lecithin range of emulsifiers, customers can be assured Cargill has a lecithin option that will work for them. The de-oiled rapeseed lecithin range provides a non-GMO and allergen-free option for consumers and it provides customers a cost-effective, label-friendly alternative to soy lecithin”.
 

The de-oiled lecithin is 100 percent sourced from Central European crops with the highest levels of quality, food safety and a reliable supply.
 

“This new range offers great emulsification performance without compromising on taste or texture,” explains Juergen Detert, technical service manager for Cargill Starches, Sweeteners & Texturizers. “Through extensive research, our R&D and applications teams developed a reliable texturizing solution that offers comparable functionality to soy and sunflower. At the same time, it delivers high flexibility and is easily incorporated into customer recipes.”
 

With this introduction, Cargill’s European customers benefit from a full (GMO and non-GMO) lecithin product portfolio ranging from soy and sunflower to de-oiled rapeseed solutions.
 

Dr. Rabeler concludes: “This is something that Cargill always had in mind. If there was any change or any risk to supply of rapeseed lecithin, we are confident that we would have a balanced supply of sources and the ability to invest when appropriate. We already do that for sunflower lecithin and we are prepared to do that for rapeseed lecithin in case additional needs were coming from the market.”

By Elizabeth Green