Novonesis tackles wheat volatility and pasta quality challenges

Novonesis has developed Optiva Triticum, a biosolution designed to help pasta manufacturers diversify wheat sourcing while maintaining the product quality consumers expect. 

Pasta remains an important global staple due to its affordability, long shelf life, and versatility. At the same time, volatility in durum wheat supply and pricing is encouraging manufacturers to explore more flexible sourcing strategies. 

Ishan Gupta, head of the Business Unit Baking at Novonesis Food & Beverage, tells Food Ingredients First: “The solution helps improve the texture and firmness of soft wheat pasta, allowing manufacturers to unlock greater flexibility in flour sourcing while continuing to deliver the quality consumers value.” 

How does it work?

According to Novonesis, Optiva Triticum strengthens and connects proteins within the pasta matrix, creating a more robust protein network. This helps pasta retain its structural integrity after cooking, even when manufacturers use softer or lower-protein wheat.

The stronger network also helps limit starch release during cooking, reducing cooking-water turbidity and supporting a better cooking experience.

Gupta explains that improving firmness does not come with any trade-offs in elasticity, bite, cooking time, flavor, color, or surface appearance.

Consumers value texture characteristics such as firmness and low stickiness in pasta most, finds Novonesis.“In our evaluations, the gains in firmness were associated with other positive outcomes like reduced cooking loss and improvements in the overall appearance of the pasta after cooking. This reflects that the goal behind Optiva Triticum isn’t to maximize a single parameter, but to help manufacturers achieve a more balanced and appealing eating experience when working with soft wheat flour.”

In pilot-scale evaluations, Optiva Triticum improved firmness by up to 25% in spaghetti and up to 11% in short-cut pasta, while reducing cooking-water turbidity by approximately 25% compared with control samples.

Quality counts

In many emerging pasta markets, the transition toward soft wheat flour is already happening, says Gupta. 

“The industry’s challenge is how to maintain the texture and eating quality consumers expect. Optiva Triticum was designed to address this challenge by improving firmness and overall sensory performance in soft wheat pasta. We aim to help manufacturers expand their formulation options while maintaining a high-quality eating experience. The achievable level of flour flexibility depends on several factors such as formulation, process conditions, flour quality, and other product targets.”

Novonesis consumer research in Brazil, Egypt, and Nigeria found that texture attributes such as firmness and stickiness are important factors in how consumers judge pasta quality.

When asked why these three countries were chosen for the consumer research, Gupta says: “Brazil, Egypt, and Nigeria are important pasta-consuming markets where affordability, ingredient flexibility, and supply resilience are particularly relevant topics for manufacturers.”

“The objective of the research was to better understand which quality attributes matter most to consumers when evaluating pasta. What we found was remarkably consistent across these markets: consumers place a strong emphasis on texture characteristics such as firmness and low stickiness, while they show limited preference for specific wheat types.” 

“This reinforces an important insight for manufacturers: delivering consistent quality and texture matters more to consumers than the specific wheat flour used in the formulation.

And while every market has its own traditions, preferences, and regulatory landscape, we believe this underlying expectation is universal — ultimately, consumers care about the quality of the eating experience.”

Gupta says the launch of Optiva Triticum reflects a broader shift in the food industry. 

“Manufacturers are increasingly looking for ways to build resilience and sustainability in their sourcing and production models, while continuing to deliver a consistent experience and affordable, high-quality foods. For pasta producers, this means finding new ways to navigate flour variability without compromising the consumer experience. We see Optiva Triticum as a contribution to that transition.”