Planteneers’ digital configurator rapidly accelerates meat & dairy alternatives NPD

02 Nov 2021 --- Planteneers’ newly unveiled Plantbaser digital platform has been designed to quickly turn a plant-based food or beverage concept into a finished product in two weeks. Using the configurator, manufacturers can define the criteria for the product they want, building from Planteneers’ extensive solutions portfolio and configured to their requirements.

Customers can explore different variations in recipes for alternatives to cheese, fermented dairy and meat products. Mayonnaise can also be configured with it, and soon a variety of plant-based baked goods and alternatives to egg and fish products will be offered.

Planteers delivers test samples of the resulting plant-based food innovations to its customers.

“The market of plant-based products is new to many of our customers. At the beginning of a joint project, there is often a joint discovery phase in which the customer learns about all the possibilities and Planteneers’ knowledge of ingredient combinations,” Dr. Dorotea Pein, head of product management at Planteneeers, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“The Plantbaser is the first step to support product development through digitalization in the B2B food sector. We are working on further food categories that will be released soon.”

Plantbaser displays which proteins are best fitted to specific products. (Credit: Planteneers)Rapid customization
With Plantbaser, manufacturers of plant-based foods easily view how different ingredients interact with each other in customized products. The platform displays which proteins are best fitted to specific products.

For instance, a company wanting to make a plant-based alternative to conventional yogurt can choose between various protein sources including almonds, cashews, oats and rice. They can also define allergenic ingredients that should under no circumstances be in the product.

Other parameters are the production technology and product base. Properties like fat and protein content, colour, texture and mouthfeel can be defined individually.

“We examined in great detail where in the product development process digitalization would pay off. If you look at the overall development process, in our view it makes the most sense to shorten the first phase of the project, from definition of the product to the first sample,” remarks Dr. Matthias Moser, managing director of the Food Ingredients Division of Planteneers’ parent company Stern-Wywiol Gruppe.

“With Plantbaser, the many coordination processes can be reduced to the minimum necessary, and the customer gets a new product ready for market much more quickly and efficiently.”

No plant-based expertise needed
For conventional meat and dairy product makers, Plantbaser offers the key advantage that it requires no dedicated plant-based expertise to operate. 

Customers can also focus on broader marketing aspects, such as examining what is already out there on the market and what gaps they can fill with their offerings.

Plantbaser displays videos that convey a realistic impression of a particular product, which change according to how the user toggles with selected properties, such as color and texture. 

“For this visualization we made videos of countless products, so that customers can see what the final product will look like right on the screen. They can immediately see how the texture changes if they increase or reduce the fat or protein content,” Dr. Moser comments.

“The biggest challenge was to present the properties such as taste and texture in a way that is visually comprehensible and selectable for the customer,” adds Dr. Pein.

Within 15 to 20 minutes the customer can put together the desired product and order a sample. (Credit: Planteneers) NPD in 15 minutes
Within 15 to 20 minutes the customer can put together the desired product and order a sample. 

The sample is ready two weeks later, either as a product ready for tasting or as a powder the customers can process themselves. 

The ready-to-eat version of the product comes as a set of four individual products, with a maximum of up to three sets per order. The same goes for the powdered format, which is available in three different grammages. 

Because the manufacturing, handling and shipping of the products generates costs, samples are not free of charge.

When the customer orders a product sample, they also get the ingredients list and specifications, plus step-by-step preparation instructions and specifics on the production equipment needed. 

Companies can check the status of sample orders in their personalized customer account, where product details are displayed.

In the case that the sample meets all expectations, the customer can order the respective compounds directly from Planteneer’s sales team. If the flavor or texture aren’t quite where they need to be yet, a new configuration can be ordered. 

Planteneers recently unveiled new hybrid solutions for improving flexitarian formulations. (Credit: Planteneers)From tech to table
Technological advances have created major innovation opportunities for the entire F&B industry, prompting Innova Market Insights to peg “Tech to Table” as its third Top Trend for 2022.

From product conception to commercialization, advances in AI, blockchain, machine learning, robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT) are anticipated to raise the bar for future food.

“Digitalization is making enormous progress in B2B. Digital customer contact has already become commonplace,” comments Torsten Wywiol, CEO of Stern-Wywiol Gruppe.

“For us it was a logical consequence to develop an instrument that saves our customers a great deal of time and money through digital product development.”

Planteneers’ innovation highway
Planteneers has access to the knowledge of some 100 R&D specialists and to the extensive applications technology of the large Stern-Technology Center in Ahrensburg, Germany. As part of the Technology Center, the Plant Based Competence Center formed in 2019 is the creative pool for alternative solutions at Planteneers.

Last August, the German food specialist developed two new solutions for hybrid plant and animal products, fiildMeat+ and fiildDairy+, which can help formulators cut the amount of meat or dairy by half in hybrid plant products while boosting sensory appeal.

In March, the company developed a range of textured vegetable proteins and plant-based binders called fiildTex and fiildFish to help manufacturers catch the wave of catch-free seafood with vegan sushi, salmon and tuna alternatives. 

By Benjamin Ferrer