ISM & ProSweets 2026 live: Avebe showcases fast-setting potato starch for scalable vegan gummies
04 Feb 2026 | Avebe
Avebe’s Stefan Wessel, field technical service specialist, explains how potato-based starch helps vegan gummies set faster, dry sooner, and run more efficiently. He shares how manufacturers can finetune texture and stability while cutting energy use — making plant-based gummy production more scalable and sustainable.
OK.
Finning greens first, reporting from ISM and ProSweeds 2026 in Cologne, Germany, and we're here at the Avey Bay stand with Stefan Vessel, who is a field technical service specialist.
So we're gonna speak about your potato-based starch for vegan gummies.
So, these potato-based starches, they, they let vegan gummies set quickly in rigid molds.
And shorten dieting time compared to other plant-based solutions, how does this change the economics and scalability of vegan gummy production for manufacturers?
Yeah, so indeed we launched a new new starch, new potato starch for making vegan gummies.
And let's say regular potato starch, regular starch gummies need to dry for maybe 2 hours, 2 days.
So that's a lot of time at high temperature and with our new potato starch, we managed to reduce the drying time as short as 2 hours, so that's a huge decrease in time and that frees up a lot of capacity in drying rooms.
And at the same time, it allows producers to make vegan starch gummies in rigid molds or plastic molds, enabling them to to also include like vitamins, minerals, these types of ingredients.
Yeah, OK.
So APP talks about giving manufacturers a toolbox to adjust texture, elasticity, and biting gummies.
Can you show how much flexibility your ingredients give brands in tailoring sensory profiles?
We have a toolbox of starches, and that means we have different types of modifications, different types of modified starches, and that gives producers the options to make a really elastic gummy, but also a more shorter gummy or a more firmer texture.
So it's really about fine tuning the texture that the customer really wants.
Yeah, and fortified gummies are often known to present formulation challenges.
How do your potato-based starch technologies help overcome issues like pH sensitivity and process instability?
Especially in the field of fortified gummies, usually it's based on a gummy.
Pectin gummies are gelling upon adding an acid, and you need a very specific pH to set the gummies.
And with a starch gummy you don't need this specific pH range, so you can set them at basically any pH range.
It's usually a little bit acidic because of taste.
But it doesn't have to be very specific, so.
Special ingredients that change the pH can also be included in this type of gummies, which makes it more flexible.
So beyond shortening dieting time and reducing energy use, how does your potato-based approach contribute to broader sustainability goals in confectionery?
Yeah, so indeed reducing drying time is of course already contributing to lower carbon footprint.
You need less time, less heat in the in the drying machines.
But also for the entire portfolio of AVB, so all starches we have and protein, we have a sustainability data sheet which shows the exact footprint from being in the ground.
Still it's used in the end product, so customers can check for themselves what type of impact they have with our product.
Thanks for your time today.
