How We Can Do More Good?
Protein scarcity will require multiple approaches. At IFF, we believe one of them is to help people move to a more balanced diet by incorporating more plant protein in their food and beverages. It could reduce CO2 emissions significantly, decrease land use and limit potential denutrition. For example, by replacing just one kilo of animal protein, like beef, with our soy protein, we can reduce the GHG emissions by up to 73 times.

We continue to expand our knowledge on how to incorporate plant proteins into daily diets, how to process these proteins with our flavor portfolio and add in taste technologies, transforming these foods into irresistible cravings for the consumer – this incredible knowhow creates unstoppable innovation and potential for the future.

Meeting Consumers Wants and Needs to Increase Plant-Based Adoption:
Research notes that most consumers worldwide want to rebalance their diets with plant-based food and beverages. At the same time, we see that the plant-based industry is not what it was projected to be a few years ago.

So, we ask ourselves, what’s the reason for this? Why is the plant-based market not booming in the way the industry predicted?

There are clear challenges with taste & texture, price, health and nutrition of plant-based foods and beverages, causing roadblocks for consumers’ adoption. Our consumer intelligence team dove in and discovered a few additional significant barriers for plant-based diet adoption – a lack of variety in the products offered to consumers and the lack of products targeted to different consumer groups.

The need today is to expand plant-based diets to the mass market, representing a heterogeneous group of people. And at the same time, the plant-based options on the market currently are not fit for all eating occasions of the day, and the varied consumer’s needs. These challenges must be addressed now, for consumers to adopt plant-based products every day, for every meal.

By putting targeted consumer liking and preferences at the center of our designs of new dishes, desserts and drinks, we are addressing their most important priorities: taste, nutrition, affordability, variety and convenience.

Let’s explore each of these plant-based market drivers to see what we must address to gain daily adoption of plant-based diets.

Key Consumer Drivers in the Plant-Based Market:
1. TASTE & TEXTURE: As many consumers incorporate plant-based foods for health benefits, taste and texture override all other motivators. If the food does not taste good, consumers will not repurchase.
2. AFFORDABILITY: Affordability is a key market driver currently. With economic pressures prompting people to reevaluate what they value; consumers are becoming more mindful of their priorities. People are more than ever considering the impact of their choices on their wallets, health and planet.
3. HEALTH & NUTRITION: Consumers admit to eating more plant-proteins and less meat for health motivation. Health is very important for consumers looking to incorporate plant-based foods into their diet.
4. VARIETY: In a recent study, two thirds of global consumers surveyed have a willingness to explore different food and beverages. People want options for every eating occasion. This means, new, diverse formats not – the same plant-based burgers and nuggets over and over.
5. CONVENIENCE: Studies show that 50% of consumers value convenient formats when choosing plant-based products, and brands are addressing these preferences with easy-to-prepare and on-the-go versions of plant-based dishes.

Plant-Based Innovation in Action:

Explore our Cuisine Redefined by Greenfield Design virtual festival, where we’ve transformed these areas of opportunity into an interactive menu of innovative plant-based cuisine, with recipes that speak to consumers’ desire for global flavors, elevated nutrition, and new creative formats for meal, beverage, dessert and snack opportunities throughout the day. Dive into consumer preferences with our metahumans that take real-life challenges of what consumers face, and watch as their wants and needs are met and exceeded with our innovative, unique foods and beverages.

Our concepts developed by IFF Chefs and Food Designers are packed with limitless flavors, taste technologies and functional ingredients and they play a vital role in bringing their cuisine expertise and technical application knowledge. The future of plant-based food and beverage is limitless, with new, exciting and innovative dishes waiting to be created.

Let’s pioneer a new era of plant-based innovation, together for the health of people and our planet.

Explore our plant-based technologies, offerings and innovations here.

The post The Path to Daily Plant-Based Consumer Adoption appeared first on IFF.

When biting into a succulent piece of barbequed meat or the extra hint of flavor you get when crunching into a trendy snack, that smoky taste is crucial. So, when rules and regulations are put into place banning smoke flavorings from your favorite products, it will cause a bit of a stir in the industry. The European commission will not renew the authorizations of smoke primary condensates which are currently used in foods in the EU to introduce a smoky taste. This means that smoke flavorings will no longer be allowed to be used in foods for the EU market. Transition periods of 2 or 5 years (depending on the application) from the 1^st of July, 2024 will be installed allowing food producers to remove these smoke flavorings from their product recipes. So, it is important to know what options are available to bring smoke taste profiles to your products and how we at IFF, can help.

Solutions to Replace Smoke Flavoring:

Smoke condensates have been used in the food industry for decades. Smoke condensates add impact and complexity to the taste of the food composition they are used in. It’s not an easy job to deliver a similar smokey taste profile without these ingredients and still deliver on the expectations of consumers. To restore the familiar complexity and depth in a smoke flavor we can pull from our extensive taste ingredient portfolio consisting of extracts, natural reaction flavors and natural preparations and combine these with single taste molecules. Our experienced Culinary Creation and Technology teams can utilize our smoke taste ingredient portfolio to customize a smokey flavor concept to the specific end-product, whether it’s for a tangy BBQ sauce, a succulent Frankfurter or a delicious snack seasoning. This results in a product that mimics the balance and harmony of the original smoke profile, without the use of smoke condensates. We utilized this expertise and our portfolio when customers asked us to assist in removing smoke flavorings from their products. We have helped in the replacement and the restoration of the original taste and are now assisting customers with their formulations to prepare for the expected legislative change.

Smoke-Free Flavor Collection:

Our smoke-free flavor collection provides you with a broad-spectrum of smokey taste profiles available for you to finetune and make taste improvements to your current product formulations. This collection consists of 6 of the most familiar smokey taste profiles, which are available in powder and liquid formats and meet “flavoring” or “natural flavoring” declarations in compliance with the European Flavoring legislation.

Discover our Smoke-Free Flavor Collection below: 

Ashy smoke – Smokey taste with a lingering astringency

Phenolic smoke – Medicinal smokey taste with a touch of warm spice

Wood smoke – Complex and traditional taste of burnt wood

Brown smoke – Burnt, caramelized with less extreme blackened character

BBQ smoke- Blackened with a grilled charcoal element

Black smoke – Extremely blackened character through charring

Need help replacing smoke condensates? Connect with Us:

This is a challenge our industry is facing, and we are here for you, as your partner, every step of the way. We are confident that our Smoke-Free Flavor Collection offers you flexibility and convenience in achieving your preferred Smokey taste profile. We are here to help you in this process and make reformulation as simple and efficient as possible. Connect with us to learn more about our new collection of smoke taste profiles and together we can develop consumer’s preferred products, click here.

The post Solutions for Smoke Flavoring: How We Can Help You Replace Smoke Condensates appeared first on IFF.

Functional ingredients: The Key for Industrial Baking

Wheat flour pricing is based on protein and ash content. A flour with higher ash content and lower protein is cost competitive but would get damaged during the production process. So, using a lower protein flour but adding in functional ingredients such as enzymes, emulsifiers and hydrocolloids can help the dough perform the same while also saving costs. Without the functional ingredients, the dough takes too much wear and tear during processing.

What do enzymes do to help the dough?

Enzymes act like a conditioner for the dough. They are a solution that provides process tolerance and consistency in the crumb structure. Enzymes break up fiber content that is inherent in wheat flour to release the water, so the dough does not become starved for water. Water hydrates the gluten proteins so they can develop quickly and efficiently. This helps the dough relax to get through processing. Water is key in industrial baking and can help improve shelf-life too. Then strengthening enzymes help take over during the proofing process all the way to the oven. This allows the bread to remain resilient from oven to packaging and beyond.

Real-Life Customer Challenge – IFF Solution:

A current customer was using one of our enzymatic solutions for strengthening. When we developed the next generation of our enzymes, we reached out to see if it would be a good fit for their product as it met their label-friendly* needs. After trials in IFF facilities as well as in-field testing, the volume increased by around 15%, providing a better height in the loaf. Our customer was happy with the better resilience, stackability and texture of the loaves.

Other Strengthening Options – Emulsifiers:

Emulsifiers, which are sourced from vegetable oils, have a key role in dough conditioning, crumb softening, aeration and foam stability. Emulsifiers can be used in all doughs and are the best option for high butter doughs providing a plump and airy texture with a desired mouthfeel. By using emulsifiers, we can create that indulgent texture when butter or fat is reduced as well. In complex recipes with fruit or grain inclusions, emulsifiers are the preferred choice for maintaining dough stability. 

Not sure whether to choose an enzyme or emulsifier in your next bake? Learn more here.

Water is Key, Hydrocolloids Help:

As mentioned, water is great for dough. It helps condition the dough, along with enzymes and emulsifiers, to improve processing tolerance. To add water and retain water in your dough, you need to include hydrocolloids. They help manage the moisture in your product from the oven to the shelves to create that cravable texture consumers love. They are also great for improving the height of your loaves and work well with enzymes and emulsifiers. Our team’s expertise shines when combining these into one functional system that best fits your formulation needs.

Higher Yield, Less Waste:

Getting a good yield out of bread and producing less waste during manufacturing creates less waste in the overall process. We also offer additional functional products like antimicrobials that help provide a longer shelf-life through distributions, to store and at someone’s home without going bad from mold or staleness.

Your Partner in Dough Strengthening:

At IFF, we customize our offerings to match your unique needs, leveraging our end-to-end portfolio that extends far beyond emulsifiers and enzymes. With a state-of-the-art R&D and application expertise, we’re well equipped to understand how ingredients interact in a baked good formulation and support your needs. Reach out to your account manager or connect with us here for more information on how we can raise the game in baking, together.

*Label-friendly refers to products that have been designed to be used as processing aids

The post The Science Behind a Strong Dough appeared first on IFF.

“For IFF being a good corporate citizen is central to who we are” said Casper Vroemen chief R&D and sustainability officer. “This recognition reaffirms our commitment to continuously improve our transparency and ESG performance and to Do More Good for our customers employees shareholders and the communities in which we live and work.”

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking is based on 184 ESG factors in seven pillars: climate change employee relations environment governance human rights stakeholders and society and ESG performance. Using a methodology developed by 3BL all Russell 1000 Index companies are researched by ISS ESG the responsible investment research arm of Institutional Shareholder Services. There is no fee for companies to be included in 100 Best Corporate Citizens.

Corporate data and information are obtained from publicly available sources rather than questionnaires or company submissions to compile the ranking. Companies can verify data collected for the ranking at no cost. Data and information used in the 2023 edition of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking was collected between July 2022 and July 2023.

“Achieving the transformational targets in the Paris Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals in this decisive decade requires all companies to truly embed ESG issues into the core of their business” said Dave Armon CEO of 3BL. “The 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2023 are answering the call by demonstrating the societal and bottom-line value of leadership and transparency around ESG topics. They are setting ambitious goals outlining robust strategies for achieving them disclosing data to measure progress and accounting for all stakeholders in business decisions.”

Customers and third-party organizations continue to recognize IFF globally for its ethics climate leadership and commitment to be an employer of choice. The 3BL recognition follows several other competitive ESG ratings IFF received this year including:

• 2023 EcoVadis Platinum sustainability rating for the third time placing IFF among the top 1% of companies assessed.
• 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the second time in recognition of our commitment to transparency and setting a new standard in gender-related data reporting.
• America’s Most Responsible Companies 2023 list by Newsweek and Statista for the fourth time.

For access to the complete 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2023 ranking and methodology visit: https://100best.3blmedia.com/

The post IFF Named to 100 Best Corporate Citizens List by 3BL appeared first on IFF.

SunCoCHEM

SunCoChem (Sun Driven CO2 Conversion into Green Chemicals) is developing a reactor to manufacture valuable chemical products from renewable energies based on CO2 (present in flue gas) water and sunlight. The aim is to provide the industry with a new way to obtain oxo-chemicals without using raw materials derived from fossil fuels.

IFF is one of three industrial partners that represent potential end-users of this technology which would lead to a reduction in our CO2 emissions energy consumption water usage and dependence on fossil-derived feedstocks. We are providing a test-site environment for the case study products in order to ensure the scalability and feasibility of the process for the fragrance industry.

Multistr3am

Microalgae has the unique ability to convert atmospheric CO2 into highly sustainable building blocks of biomass. Multistr3am is working to overcome existing barriers to using microalgae by bringing down the costs of cultivation harvesting and downstream processing using a new kind of biorefinery to create high-quality in-demand products at scale.

Through this collaboration with several industry partners IFF is helping to validate whether algae materials can be successfully converted to high-quality building blocks for micro-encapsulation and fragrance ingredients thereby displacing fossil fuels. Additionally select waste streams have the potential to be repurposed as feed stocks for algae cultivation building the way to a more circular economy.

Plenitude

Plenitude aims to increase the availability of sustainable meat-alternative food-grade protein by building a first-of-its-kind bio-based value chain. The unique zero-waste process couples an aerobic fermentation plant (to produce a food-grade protein) with a conventional bioethanol refinery that uses sustainable inputs. Plenitude has the potential to deliver savings equivalent to ~5 tonnes of CO2e emissions for every tonne of mycoprotein consumed (~82% CO2 reduction compared to meat protein).

IFF’s role is to perform consumer and market studies of new protein sources as meat alternatives. We are also working with our partners in the project to develop market-appropriate products using IFF’s standard taste ingredient toolkit and product application insights.

The post Sustainable Innovation on the Horizon appeared first on IFF.

We recently partnered with Dutch startup PeelPioneers to utilize fresh orange peels that would otherwise be discarded from supermarkets juice bars and other quick-service restaurants in the Netherlands. Orange peels are naturally rich in essential oils and cannot be composted as easily as other fruits and vegetables because of their high water content.

Thanks to PeelPioneers’ agreement with one of the largest commercial waste management companies in the Netherlands discarded fresh peels are delivered to the PeelPioneers factory within 72 hours of juicing where they are washed and treated to obtain a high-quality oil-in-water emulsion via cold extraction.

IFF uses the resulting essential oil to create signature taste designs including natural orange flavorings and extracts in IFF’s Re-Imagine Citrus Upcycled Orange product line. Utilizing circular design principles in this way helps us meet customer and consumer demand without stressing the citrus supply chain and creates a unique marketing advantage for the Re-Imagine Citrus Upcycled Orange product line one our customers can include in their own labeling and marketing outreach.

This circular design solution fully exemplifies our company vision and strategy to “do more good.”

The post Upcycling Orange for Our Signature Taste Designs appeared first on IFF.

To tap into those thriving markets we launched our new Taste facility in Dubai. This state-of-the-art Taste Creative Center will tap into the rich culinary heritage of the region to serve the specific innovation needs of our local customers.

Housed in DuBiotech the Dubai Biotechnology and Research Park the facility offers flavors savory solutions juice-based compounds inclusions colors and food protection solutions. The new lab supports both the creation and application needs of all categories including snacks beverages savory sweet and dairy. The site also includes a full-scale Sensory and Consumer Insights lab as well as an analytical lab.

Designed to foster co-creation and spark creativity our new center in Dubai provides employees with collaborative areas that are truly inspired by green working spaces. In line with our focus on sustainability the facility is fully LEED certified.

Take a tour in the photo gallery below.

The post Tour IFF’s New Dubai Taste Creative Center appeared first on IFF.

Since the start of 2018 the two companies have been collaborating on a sleep fragrance. SleepScore has clinically tested an initial scent prototype — a pillow spray designed to support healthy sleep — over 800 nights recording both self-reported data and objective sleep measures using technology by ResMed a maker of medical devices.

Results of the study have shown that when using the scent participants spent 26% less time awake at night after falling asleep. With more than 70% of the developed world impacted by poor sleep and the resulting adverse effects on overall health these groundbreaking results could support the development of new consumer product categories and alter the way we approach healthy sleep habits.

To learn more about monitoring and measuring your sleep visit https://www.sleepscore.com/sleepscore-app to explore Sleepscore Lab’s sleep apps.

The post IFF and Sleepscore Labs Collaborate on Groundbreaking Study appeared first on IFF.