Puratos Celebrates 60 Years of Innovation in Bread Improvement

6 Sep 2013 --- Exactly 60 years ago Puratos pioneered the bakery industry by introducing the T500, the first complete bread improver. It marked the beginning of a list of innovations in the field of bread improvement which continues to date, in line with ever-changing market requirements and consumer demands.

The invention allowed Puratos to grow from a small local company in Belgium to the worldwide company it is today.

For over 4000 years, baking has been a process of evolution and innovation, an art that combines skills, passion and quality products. But in 1953, François Van Belle and Pierre Demanet, two pioneers of Puratos, turned evolution into revolution for the bakery industry by creating the T500, the very first complete bread improver in the world. Suddenly, it is possible to control and improve the entire baking process and to offer the consumer consistent high quality.

The break-through leads the way for new, intensified research, so some 20 years after the T500, a new revolution emerged: the S500, a complete bread improver in powder form. The S500 was an important step forward in operational efficiency and convenience for bakers around the world. At the end of the millennium, consumer demand for more convenience and the growth of bake-off shops and supermarkets pushed bread producers to explore new production methods and technologies. So in 1982, Puratos introduced Kimo, a solution for frozen bakery goods, followed in 1994 by Soft’r to respond to the demand of both consumers and bread producers to keep bread fresh longer.

In recent years, as the market sprawls in all directions, industrial bakers were looking for solutions to overcome specific challenges. The answer was “Intens”, a modular bread improvement concept, which allowed bakers to address their biggest challenges in the baking process, eg. freshness, resilience, dough extensibility,... Continuing on the trend of indulgent snacking, in 2007 Soft’r Melting was introduced to the soft baked goods market to improve freshness and extend shelf life of sweet bakery products like donuts, Berliners and soft sweet breads & rolls.

Since the launch of the first complete bread improver 60 years ago, Puratos continued to revolutionise the baking industry and gives its customers the speed and flexibility to tackle their daily challenges, so they can offer their customers a wide variety of high quality products at any time of the day. Worldwide, Puratos Group employs 250 people in research & development. They focus on the growing concerns of the consumer: quality (taste, look, authenticity), health and convenience.

Mr Eddy Van Belle, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Puratos, comments: “The constant development of Puratos is defined by several inventions of which the T500 bread improver is certainly one of the most significant. T500, which is now known as a revolution in bakery, is actually the result of a lot of work and constant fine-tuning with bakers to know their needs. In the end, it was the success of the T500 that allowed Puratos to start to grow from a small local company in Belgium to the worldwide company it is today.”