Day: April 28, 2021

For nearly 80 years, the IFT has hosted the annual summertime event as a meeting, educational event, and ingredient showcase.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the organization to move the event to a virtual environment to ensure participant safety, and to make way for the Army Corps of Engineers who needed to use McCormick Place as an overflow hospital.

After careful consideration, the president of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), Noel Anderson, announced last month that the virtual format will continue for the 2021 event.  Scheduled for July 19-21, the FIRST21 event promotes numerous opportunities to connect with leading companies, innovative startups, and top researchers in the industry.

In their recent announcement, they explained, “The pandemic has presented many challenges, and in those challenges, we have found exciting opportunities to innovate and transform… we will be sharing information about the new and innovative ways you will be able to meet, share, discuss, and explore the latest science, research, ingredients, and product solutions digitally this summer.”

Discounts are available for early registration to the event through June 4, 2021.

Learn more about and register for the event here.

Every day consumers push for more and more healthy options on grocery store shelves.  Childhood obesity, an increased diabetic population, and the high prevalence of obesity in society are drivers that are steering food manufacturers to look for new ways to look for ways reduce the amount of sugar in their products.

Reducing the sugar in products is no easy feat.  As Fiberstar explained in a recent blog, “Sugar not only complements other ingredients to produce mouthwatering flavor, but it also provides some functionality in certain foods. For example, not only does the developer need to adjust the sweetness and flavor, but they also have to add functional ingredients to improve the texture and stability over shelf-life.”

Yogurts, spreads, ice cream, and plant-based foods all face these challenges.  High sugar fruit preparations rely on ingredients like pectin to provide the gelling texture and stability.  To create that texture, pectin requires high Brix or high sugar concentrations and low pH.   With reduced sugar fruit preparations, a different added pectin is required to provide the same gelled textures.  On the other hand, stability may be compromised.

Fiberstar Citri-Fi® 100 Citrus fiber offers another alternative.  The natural fiber contains high amounts of native pectin.  The intact pectin provides a gelling texture in reduced-sugar foods with some processing adjustments.  The Fiberstar website goes on to explain, “Moreover, due to the citrus fiber’s high surface area, this clean label ingredient binds water to improve stability over time. In the end, this new technology helps developers create products with cleaner nutrition labels or improves Nutri-scores by lowering the sugar content.

Citri-Fi’s labeling options include citrus fiber, dried citrus pulp, or citrus flour which resonate well in the natural and clean label markets. Citri-Fi is non-GMO Project Certified, allergen-free and gluten-free.”

Contact your Skidmore representative for more information about Citri-Fi® 100, and the rest of the Fiberstar product line.

Ingredion recently introduced two new ingredients to their pea protein offerings.

Vitessence Pulse 1853 Pea Protein Isolate and Purity Pea 1002 Pea Starch are produced at Ingredion’s South Sioux City, Nebraska facility.  Both products are also sustainably produced at North American farms.

The pea protein isolate offers 85% protein on a dry basis.  It may be used to increase protein content across a variety of applications.  The native pea starch may be used to improve texture in applications including plant-based cheeses and gelatin-free confectionery to gluten-free baked foods.

According to a recent article on Foodbusinessnews.com, the new pea isolate and pea starch join Ingredion’s portfolio of plant-based proteins and ingredients, which includes the plant protein concentrates and flours produced in Vanscoy, Sask. The addition of the South Sioux City pea protein facility makes Ingredion the first manufacturer in North America to offer “produced in the US and Canada” plant protein isolate, concentrate, flour, and starch products ranging from less than 10% protein to 85% protein on a dry basis, the company said.

“The addition of higher protein pulses capitalizes on our ability to help our customers deliver consumer-preferred food and beverages to global markets,” Jorgen Kokke, executive vice president and president of the Americas at Ingredion told Food Business News. “By combining our expertise and product formulation capabilities with high-quality ingredients, we are well-positioned to be a reliable supplier supporting our customers with breakthrough, innovative plant-based solutions.”

Skidmore proudly offers a full line of Ingredion ingredients.  Contact your sales representative for more information on these products or others that will complete your next innovation!

Starting January 1, 2023, products derived from or using sesame seeds will have to be so labeled following legislation signed by President Biden, Friday, April 23.

The long-awaited legislation has been on the federal government’s docket since 2018 when the FDA began looking into the prevalence and severity of allergies related to the seed.

According to FoodDive.com, “The bill also mandates a detailed report on federal government activity to classify, measure, diagnose and prevent food allergies in the United States. This report also tasks the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with presenting a plan for modifying the federal government’s list of major allergens in a timely fashion through regulation. The report must be presented to Congress and posted on the HHS website in 18 months.”

Sesame will now join dairy, soy, wheat, peanuts, eggs, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish as ingredients that must be specifically called out on food packaging.

FoodDive.com cited research published in JAMA in 2019, “as many as 1.6 million people in the United States — about 0.49% of the population — could be allergic to sesame. Another study done by the National Institutes of Health and published in the journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology found that 17% of children with other food allergies are also allergic to sesame.”

See the FASTER Act of 2021 here.