KEY INTERVIEW: Sweet and Sour Trends Driving Developments at Corbion

04 Nov 2016 --- After a successful launch in Europe, Canada and the US, Corbion’s PURAC Powder MA is still riding the waves to meet the growing demand for extreme sour taste profiles across sugar confectionery. Delivering an instant and long lasting sour taste in confectionery products, the non-fat coated malic acid powder remains stable in products even with an extended shelf life, and is suitable for acid sanded confectionery. 

Many coated acids for confectionery applications use fat-coating technology. This not only provides taste issues, such as a delay in the release of the sourness or even a rancid off-taste, hygroscopicity and acid migration can also occur. Corbion Purac's patented coating technology significantly improves stability in terms of acid migration and moisture uptake from the environment. This means the confectionery remains dry throughout its shelf life and then dissolves much faster on consumption than fat-based coatings, offering consumers an instantaneous, refreshing burst of acid flavor.

Corbion are currently developing transparent solutions that improve performance, enhance shelf life and guarantee food safety. FoodIngredientsFirst caught up with Peter van Paridon (pictured), global Industry Director of Food & Beverage at Corbion who discussed the global opportunities for the company. “We are working very closely with our customers on developments in the US, Far East, Latin America and Europe,” says van Paridon, “We have a unique portfolio of food acids, emulsifiers and functional blends and a strong scientific background to help develop applications for our products.”

“We are seeing a strong trend towards bold, exotic flavors and we currently have a line of products that can be used to produce sour flavors that can be used alongside combinations of fruit flavors,” explains van Paridon. “Recently we have been working on acid-sanding of marshmallows. The outside sugar layer is mixed with our PURAC Powder MA, which gives a very interesting new flavor to the marshmallow.”

“Marshmallow is a tricky confectionery product because if you were to use a fat- coated acid on it, the fat would likely migrate into the marshmallow, leading to collapse of the foam structure and dilution of flavor,” notes van Paridon. “With our new ingredient, you can make marshmallows with a very strong sour flavor, which fits with current consumer trends. There have also been some examples of it being used in hard boiled and soft-panned candy, so it opens up a lot of new opportunities with this powerful bold flavor, which were not possible before.”

Corbion’s innovation center, which is located at its main site in Gorinchem, The Netherlands, has around 150 R&D employees who are working on both the application of ingredients and also the innovation of new products. The coating technology applied to its coated malic acid, PURAC Powder MA, is presently being used on other food acids to develop stable products that are not hygroscopic and have a fast flavor release; van Paridon says that some of those products will be available in the market next year. 

Within the savory sector, van Paridon says that the trend towards, natural, transparent and cleaner label ingredients is now stronger than ever, noting that safeguarding and preserving savory food products is also high on the agenda. “This is an area where there is always room for developments,” he says, “And we are currently developing new solutions for savory items such as sauces, dressings and ready to eat meals, where our ingredients can be used to prevent spoilage and increase food shelf life and safety.”

What are the main challenges Corbion sees in the food industry? “Today’s market has a lot of changes in regulation, which are not always easy to follow. This is where our tech support and innovation make the difference,” van Paridon says, “We also see customer innovations stimulating bigger, industry-wide trends. And those are coming from food manufacturers both large and small.”

The future looks bright
“In the US the legislation on partially hydrogenated oils is changing,” van Paridon explains, “By the year 2018 our North American customers won’t be able to use them, so we developed a completely new portfolio of non PHO emulsifiers, that have at least the same, and in some cases an even better, functionality than partially hydrogenated versions. Moreover, these new emulsifiers will function similarly in the application which means that our customers will save on re-formulation. That’s something we are leading the way with,” he claims. 

“We offer our customers the opportunity to switch to our new emulsifiers with very little development work required. Of course, that takes a lot of preparation on our side but we are certain that it will help our customers make the transition as smoothly as possible,” he adds. 

Van Paridon also explains that the future looks bright for Corbion, stating, “At its core, Corbion is a strong biobased ingredients company. Our market-leading ingredients provide safe and healthy food for a growing population, while reducing waste.” 

by Elizabeth Kenward