Gold Coast Develops Vegetarian Savory Flavors Line

29 Jan 2016 --- As savory flavor trends continue to emerge throughout the food industry, Gold Coast Ingredients’ R&D Team has focused heavily on new, specialty lines of vegetarian savory flavors. The goal of this expansion is to provide consumers with precise meat and poultry flavor profiles without the use of animal proteins or animal products.  Gold Coast’s vegetarian flavors come in powder and liquid form, and can be made organic, non-GMO, gluten-free or MSG-free upon request.

FoodIngredientsFirst spoke with Megan Trent, Marketing Coordinator at Gold Coast Inc.: “Meat eaters and vegetarians may be unaware of how often they are consuming products with vegetarian flavors. Gold Coast Ingredients vegetarian flavors benefit vegetarian consumers, yet are formulated for many reasons.”

Trent adds, “A major benefit of our 100% vegetarian flavors is that we work directly with a rabbi to make our flavors kosher. Pork meat products can never be kosher, but our vegetarian pork flavors give customers the capabilities to keep their products kosher certified.”

She also says: “Kosher meat products like kosher beef are more difficult or expensive to manufacture with. Our vegetarian, kosher beef flavors eliminate the hassle and cost that comes with using kosher beef ingredients.”

Mariano Gascon, Gold Coast Ingredients’ Senior Technical Director of R&D, explains, “Consumers are demanding products free of ingredients such as MSG, autolyzed yeast extract and hydrolyzed vegetable protein, but oftentimes do not realize how difficult it is to create a clean, vegetarian savory flavor without losing essential flavor characteristics. At GCI, we formulate savory flavor enhancers that meet common, natural and organic requirements by removing undesirable ingredients”.

“Gold Coast Ingredients is a custom flavor house, which allows us to accommodate to any customer requirements including organic, non-GMO, gluten-free and MSG-free requests. For example, while some companies manufacture only Certified Organic products and need Certified Organic flavors, other companies are satisfied with natural or natural and artificial flavors,” she says.

Trent also says: “These declarations (organic, natural, N&A, etc.) are determined by ingredient sources. Organic ingredients need to be certified and tend to cost more, while MSG (monosodium glutamate) is often problematic due to consumer sensitivities with the ingredient. As price and market trends fluctuate, Gold Coast Ingredients is well-prepared to formulate unlimited variations of our vegetarian flavors to meet consumer preferences.”

Trent adds: “Another advantage of non-vegetarians using vegetarian flavors is not having to bring actual meat products into their production plants and dealing with extra USDA regulations. Handling and storing meat means more GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) constraints, specs, microspecs and other documentation. Our vegetarian meat and poultry flavors help companies avoid potential issues due to meat products.”

“Vegetarians may not eat meat, yet the market is booming with meat substitutes made from vegetables, soy and other bases. At Gold Coast Ingredients, we see a high demand for vegetarian flavors for breakfast and snack products,” she says.

100% Vegetarian Chicken Flavors: offered in a variety of flavor profiles including grilled, roasted and boiled with white, dark, lean or fatty skin flavor profiles. Soup and broth options are also available.

100% Vegetarian Beef Flavors: available in different cooking styles, fat content, rare, medium and well-done beef flavor profiles. Soup, broth and au jus options are also available.

100% Vegetarian Pork Flavors: flavor profile range from bacon, lard and ham to a large selection of roasts, cured meats and sausages. Broth, stew and more options are also available.

Common applications include marinades, seasonings, gravy bases, demi-glaces, brines, stews, sauces, soups, cheese, bakery products, beverages and more.

Trent tells FoodIngredientsFirst about the impact so far: “Gold Coast Ingredients first introduced our Specialty Line of Vegetarian Chicken Flavors – setting up tastings at trade shows, so currently our vegetarian chicken flavors are our most popular vegetarian savory flavors.”

She adds: “They have had their greatest impact with soup and noodle products. Yet overall, our new vegetarian chicken, beef and pork flavors have had positive feedback with soups, noodles, snack foods, breakfast products and even pet food.”

by Elizabeth Kenward