Functional food solutions provider Beneo is showcasing its range of hybrid and fully plant-based development processes to support food manufacturers at this year's Fi Europe.
The company aims to facilitate the rapid market launch of plant-based food and beverages by utilising its ingredients and recipe development expertise.
Beneo will also highlight its primary processing components, as well as its semi-finished and final products.
The growing demand for plant-based
The nutraceutical and functional food markets are highly dynamic, with consumer preferences growing and changing on a regular basis.
According to Beneo's proprietary research, 60% of consumers globally are interested in plant-based nutrition, with at least one in three identifying as flexitarian.1
Therefore, many food and beverage manufacturers are seizing the opportunity to cater to this market by developing tasty, clean-label products with a favourable texture and price point.
To assist companies in this endeavour, Beneo is showing them how the company can assist in the (re)formulation process at Fi Europe.
This includes expertise in:
- Ingredients and recipe development: Beneo has developed a range of snacking options with plant-based functional food ingredients. This includes a feta cheese ball with an improved Nutri-Score to standard plant-based feta solutions on the market, as well as a plant-based chocolate which is high in protein. These ingredients contain increased levels of fibre, protein and starch, while offering a creamy texture and pleasant taste.
- Primary processing: The company also presents its egg-free meringue, which utilises its faba bean protein concentrate. Beneo will also present its plant-based white fish fillet, which consists of meatless rice and mycoprotein textured flakes.
- Semi-finished products: To cater to the meat alternative market, Beneo has created an Asian style plant-based chicken skewer. The vegan alternative uses Meatless Chicken Chunks, which contains flavour-enhanced pea and mycoprotein. According to the company, it can be used in a variety of applications with some adaptation.
- Final products aimed at consumers: Beneo has also begun collaborating with industry partners to create convenient hybrid ready meals. These solutions have an improved Nutri-Score owing to Meatless Textured Flakes, which can be used to replace meat in pies, rolls, tacos and more.
Niels Hower, Member of the Executive Board at BENEO says: “BENEO’s plant-based protein strategy aims to cover more parts of the value chain. Next to our ingredients, this includes offerings for hybrid and vegetarian applications such as ingredient texturates that are ready to be processed, as well as semi-finished products."
"As a result, we speed up the development process for our customers and increase their control of cost and quality at the same time. It is an exciting time in plant-based and hybrid product development, and we want to show producers that it is possible to combine taste, texture and cost-efficiency in a wide range of solutions.”
Visitors to Fi Europe can try out BENEO’s latest solutions at two cooking areas. One – in the form of a food truck – features the innovative hybrid products and the fully plant-based samples will be served from the booth.
