FiE 2024 live: IFF unveils enzyme alternative to crop-based texturants amid climate change risks

International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) is targeting the texture of dairy and plant-based fresh fermented products with Texstar — an enzymatic texturizing solution that provides the necessary viscosity in such products without adding stabilizers. The company launches the ingredient at the ongoing Fi Europe 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany (November 19-21).

Hailed by the company as a “game-changer” in the texturants market, Texstar converts sucrose into poly- and oligosaccharides, reducing sugar content and enhancing the smoothness and shine in fermented products like yogurt. 

Food Ingredients First catches up with Rossana Rodriguez, global business director, Dairy Biosciences and Simon Bird, global business director Food Enzyme at IFF, to unwrap the enzyme’s importance as a substitute to crop-based texturants at a time when climate change is impacting crop yields and quality worldwide.

“Companies that are using starch or gelatin are facing challenges due to climate change’s impact on crops. When we use enzymes, we always have the same performance, with no crop dependency,” Rodriguez tells us live from the show floor.

“We also see that starch normally uses huge volumes, whereas enzymes use much smaller volumes. That simplifies everything that has to do with logistics.”

Texstar can also mask the off-notes or beanie notes associated with plant-based products.

Texstar imparts creamy, velvety textures to yogurt when nearly 42% of US consumers seek spoonable yogurts with a thick, satisfying consistency (Image credit: Midjourney).“When these off-notes are attached to a carbohydrate, they tend to get rounded and disappear, and that’s basically what the enzyme does,” she explains.

Reducing carbon footprint

Texstar is marketed as a sustainable alternative to crop-based texturants, notes IFF. When used as a partial milk protein replacer, it can reduce the carbon footprint of fresh fermented products. This is often challenging to achieve in a dairy product where milk is not only the main ingredient but additional milk protein may be added to reach the desired texture. By providing viscosity, texstar can help reduce milk protein and therefore reduced the carbon footprint of the fresh fermented product.

Additionally, enzymatic solutions for texture can help manufacturers achieve up to 90% reduction in texturant-related Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions due to significantly lower usage rates, based on analysis conducted by IFF’s Life Cycle Assessment team. 

Rodriguez highlights that customers are increasingly looking into products that can help them reduce carbon footprint. However, transporting large volumes of texturants contributes to the carbon footprint, which can be reduced by using enzyme solutions, which require “less than 20 times the volume that you will need for starch.” 

Tackling supply and cost instability

Texstar mitigates the risks of price fluctuations associated with crop-based texturants like starch, since it is produced using fermentation. 

“When using an enzyme, you don’t have the volatility or instability you may have when you depend on a crop. So we always deliver the same product and quality, again and again,” Rodriguez notes.

Additionally, its lower dosage requirement for achieving target viscosity allows manufacturers to store more inventory in less space.

Texstar can be used as a partial milk protein replacer in fresh fermented foods.For IFF, Texstar’s formulation was based on the consumer demand for more clean label and sustainable products, Rodriguez tells us.

“We see that the product is actually delivering on these needs and has a bright future. Additionally, it is not only delivering in dairy products, but also plant-based products that provide the texture consumers are looking for. It also helps with the taste, which is a big issue today in the market.”

Targeting bakery quality

IFF has also launched a bakery enzyme solution — Enovera, to address the bakery market’s challenges over the last two to three years, Bird tells us.

“Traditionally, the bakery sector has been very sustainable, but bakers globally have to deal with raw material fluctuations, quality and sourcing availability while also trying to drive their own sustainability agendas.”

Enovera allows customers to move to more label-friendly solutions, away from traditional chemical emulsifiers, while maintaining quality. It helps bakers “reduce their dependence on vital wheat gluten, which bakers have been using as a supplement to digital lipase technology,” he explains.

Traditional lipase technologies used in bakery products can have a negative effect if manufacturers exceed the recommended dose. IFF’s Enovera allows bakers to reach the real optimum dose and even “improve on the volume and the dose stability that you get compared to traditional chemical emulsifiers,” Bird concludes.

With live reporting from Joshua Poole at FiE 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany