Sustainable Food Forum: Collaborations “crucial” for boosting supply chains and impacting future food formulation

20 Sep 2023 --- Hosted by Food Matters Live in London this week (September 19 and 20), the Sustainable Food Forum is exploring strategies to enhance global food systems amid continued pressures on supply chains as it examines the progress being made that will make a difference in food ingredients, formulation and processing.

Experts and thought leaders participated in panel discussions at the event yesterday on the topic of “Making the business case for sustainable food across the supply chain.”

Food Ingredients First attended the forum and spoke with Anne Marie Butler, global director of strategy and innovation at Edlong, who discussed how consumers are “at the core of the sustainability movement.”

“If we, as business leaders, said to our consumers, ‘we’re struggling to achieve our full sustainability targets, so bear with us and hear what we’re going to do, what plans we have in the pipeline,’ consumers will feel likely embrace the process with us.”

“It’s all about sharing parts of our journey with the consumers and communicating honestly about sustainability goals and targets. Collaborations like this are one key way in which Edlong aims to find the best possible sustainable solutions for the future,” she explains.

“So that might mean that we can help consumers reduce the amount of dairy they’re using, or in terms of our partners, we might be able to help optimize their ingredient formulations, whatever that solution looks like, collaborations are crucial to growth.” 

Butlers says she “feels a responsibility for collaborations within the industry.”

Anne Marie Butler, global director of strategy and innovation at Edlong.“As far as I’m concerned, that is the only way that sustainability in business will work.”

Not a “trend”
During the panel discussion, Butler said: “Everything we’re talking about is driven by the consumer: their needs, their wants. That is what we’re here to do: provide food to consumers that they will pay for.”

“Sustainability is not a trend,” she remarks. “It’s something that we have to build into our businesses. It has to work for our business, and our processes have to facilitate us being able to do so.” 

“You can’t force people to do something. You need to willingness to come from all corners of the food supply systems. What needs to be done next is for sustainability to be adopted properly.”

“Of course,” Butlers continues, “Sustainability looks different for every business. You have to work to your strengths to embrace it. So there’s the economic piece of the puzzle, the social piece and then the government piece. There are so many elements to sustainability, and the reality is that there is no one way to describe it,” she outlines. 

“Sustainability is longevity,” Butler summarizes. “Under this comes collaboration. We can only have sustainable food systems with the role of collaboration and people working together, from commercial sides all the way to the production system.”

Sustainability factors 
Butler argues that we can only achieve sustainable food solutions with joint efforts. “It does not look like one team working in isolation,” she states. 

For Edlong, this means companies come to them with challenges. For example, they want to make a product, and they might have an idea of their protein targets but might need to know the best protein to use. 

“But because we’re an ingredient company that manufactures flavors, we’re always looking for the best solution so we can help our customers formulate their product in the best way possible. Because I’m not just looking at just one protein supplier, I’m looking at multiple factors, whether that’s functionality or cost.”

Other factors to consider when examining proteins are: “Does this give the desired texture, taste and mouth feel? Are they a supplier that’s within your region? Do they do they supply to this market? Does it make sense?”

For example, when Edlong works with companies in Canada, there’s a “great supply” of pea protein there, so the company recommends pea proteins that are local to their area.

Is plant-based paramount to sustainability?
Another discussion point between Food Ingredients First and Butler was that plant-based “isn’t “a trend anymore.” 

“It’s very much part of our mainstream,” Butler underscores. “It’s another option for consumers. I see companies and consumers trying to segregate it as a trend; by doing this, we risk making it less attractive.”

Of course, plant-based is essential to our business, but both plant-based and animal-derived foods can co-exist, she elaborates. Experts and thought leaders participated in a panel discussion on the topic of “Making the business case for sustainable food across the supply chain.”

“If we really focused on factors such as: ‘this is why we’re doing it, and plant-based is important because it facilitates the future of food. Ten and even 20 years from now, we will struggle to feed the entire global population with our current food systems.’”

“There has to be some element of change, and plant-based plays an important role in that change. It might not be the only solution, and it doesn’t mean that dairy has to disappear, but there is space for both and we should be embracing this and adapting our needs to it.”

Butler shares that she also sees benefits from combining dairy and plant-based ingredients. “Why not? If I can get more fiber from my milk by adding some oats, why would I not do that?” she quizzes. 

Butler believes that “this is the way that consumers are now, there’s a clear, defined need for flexitarians to have choices and options” that appeal to mood, hunger, time of day and so on. 

“We have to acknowledge that the market and the needs of our consumers are changing.”

According to Butler, “companies are starting to do that.”

She adds that there’s an opportunity for us to “really and truly innovate in this space.”

“The ingredients that are coming out now are so exciting and new. Why don’t we think differently? Why always try to pigeonhole ourselves in a box that says we have to replicate something that already exists?”

Butler explains that the downside of replicating is that the bar is “already set high,” so if you’re trying to replicate a plant-based cheese and you don’t hit that, you’ve lost your customers, whereas “if you’re just giving someone a great eating experience, that’s an entirely different ball game.”

By Elizabeth Green, reporting live from London