Sonneveld Group is a part of Orkla, a leading industrial investment company with twelve independent suppliers for consumer merchandises such as food, snacks, confectionery, biscuits and healthcare products.
Sonneveld Group owns the European Bakery Innovation Centre (EBIC), an open innovation centre for the European bakery supply chain including raw material suppliers, bakery equipment manufacturers, bakeries, retail, food service, bakery ingredient producers and European governments.
Utilising Sonneveld Group’s sales channels, Orkla ’s groupwide business channels and EBIC’s network in the European industry, Teijin aims to encourage local food manufacturers to adopt BARLEYmax in place of conventional barley, mainly for use in breads and other healthy food products mainly in Benelux and Scandinavian countries.
Going forward, Teijin expects to expand its sales channels in Europe including France and Germany as well as its existing channels in Spain, Portugal and Italy to enhance its presence in the European market for functional food ingredients.
BARLEYmax has nearly 40 times more dietary fibre than white rice, compared with just 15 times more for rolled barley. It contains dietary fibers such as fructan, β-glucan and resistant starch, each of which enters the intestine at a different digestive rate to provide food for good bacteria.
BARLEYmax also contains iron, zinc, niacin and vitamin B6, all typically lacking in modern diets.
Furthermore, BARLEYmax offers an excellent nutritional balance and contains less sugar than other grains, according to data cited in the Standard Tables of Food Composition, part of the Japanese Food Labeling Standards.
BARLEYmax had a mild taste, neither bitter nor harsh, and is more savoury and sweeter than general barleys. It also is virtually odourless.
With so many benefits, it is increasingly being adopted for use in cooked rice, cereals, confectionery and breads in Japan and other parts of Asia as well as in countries of other regions where health consciousness is rising, such as the United States and Australia.
BARLEYmax was developed in Australia by the national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Given that conventional barley has a distinctive taste that is not to everyone's liking, Teijin is assertive that Europe represents a highly promising market for the abundant dietary fibre, excellent nutritional balance and relatively sweet taste of BARLEYmax.