Tapping into veganism: Wacker presents vegan concepts at Fi Europe 2019

09 Dec 2019 --- At Fi Europe 2019, Wacker presented its latest solutions for vegan food. The Munich-based food group is helping industry develop products that serve the growing market for vegan food. Wacker’s alpha-dextrin, marketed under the brand Cavamax W6, is used as a substitute for eggs in fine baked goods, thereby enabling vegan recipes. And the company’s Fermopure vegan cysteine is a raw material for flavors, particularly savory flavors, as well as for use in bakery applications. Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst from the show floor, Verena Klaus, Manager for Food & Flavor Biosolutions at Wacker, says, “these two powerful ingredients are helping the food industry to cater to the growing need for vegan food products.”

Veganism on trend
Fermopure vegan cysteine is an ideal raw material to create vegan flavors, such as meaty and savory flavors, notes Klaus. “It’s manufactured purely from plant-based raw materials, so it’s vegan, kosher and halal – an ideal choice for people who care about specific food requirements,” she explains.

Verena Klaus, Manager for Food & Flavor Biosolutions at Wacker“We see a global trend and market studies which confirm that the number of people adhering to a vegan diet is rising globally, but especially in Western industrial countries, it is particularly pronounced,” she adds.

Market studies also confirm that the number of people adhering to a vegan diet is continuously rising worldwide. This trend is particularly pronounced among young people. In October, Innova Market Insights ranked “The Plant-Based Revolution” as second place in its Top Ten Trends list for 2020. The gulf between plant-based and meat products is shrinking as vegan offerings are increasingly catching up to animal proteins in terms of smell, taste and textural sensations.

Currently, some 1.3 million people are estimated to follow a vegan diet in Germany alone, according to Wacker. This figure has recently been rising by an annual average of 15 percent. Growing affluence, changing ethical awareness of animals and increasing health awareness are three key reasons underlying fundamental changes in our eating habits in recent years.

Consumers want healthy, sustainably manufactured products with no ethical concerns that are entirely tailored to their needs – and they want all that without compromising quality or taste. “If it is to offer these kinds of products, the food industry needs powerful production methods and ingredients,” says Dr. Ulrike Fischer Nägele, Head of Technical Service at Wacker’s Nutrition business team. 

Under the Cavamax brand, Wacker supplies the food industry with cyclodextrins derived from plant starches. Wacker’s Cavamax W6 brand of alpha-cyclodextrin (or alpha-dextrin) offers manufacturers of fine baked goods a solution to replace eggs. In doing so, Cavamax W6 provides vegan baked goods with volume, elasticity and moisture, while yielding the consistency and taste experience that consumers expect – important properties, which are usually impaired when eggs are omitted. 

“The emulsifying, soluble dietary fiber can replace eggs because it stabilizes oil-in-water emulsions in cake batter as well as the sensitive pore structure of finished cakes,” explains Dr. Fischer-Nägele. Cavamax W6 is a water-soluble powder that is easy to process. Baked goods containing alpha-dextrin can be produced using existing equipment. Moreover, manufacturers can save up to 40 percent of their costs, if seasonal fluctuations in egg prices are taken into account.  

“Egg white and egg yolk perform different functions. They emulsify, whip, support, and gVegan muffins presented by Wacker at Fi Europe in Paris last week.ive texture and color. If you want to mimic this multifunctionality with one-to-one solutions, meaning replacing such a complex product such as the egg with a single ingredient, it’s going to be challenging,” explains Klaus. “This is why we propose a synergistic solution. We propose combining alpha-dextrin together with either plant- or dairy-based protein,” she adds. 

Food manufacturers are having more challenges compared to creating their conventional counterparts, notes Klaus. “To meet this demand, the industry needs ingredients that are, on the one hand, highly functional but also fulfill clean label requirements. Here, our alpha-dextrin an excellent choice because it is a natural fiber while being very functional,” she states. 

“In Europe, we have health claims for alpha-dextrin; if you put it together with a certain amount of starch, 10 percent of the alpha-dextrin in a starchy meal consumed together. Your blood sugar levels will not rise as much as if you had consumed the meal without alpha-dextrin,” she concludes. 

By Elizabeth Green, with additional reporting from Missy Green in Paris.