Five minutes at FI Europe with …
Charlotte Commarmond
Senior Director, Marketing and Innovation, EMEA
Agro Food Industry Hi-Tech: What innovations are you presenting at FIE 2017?
Charlotte Commarmond: Taking visitors on a Tour of Tasty Trends, Ingredion showcased a menu of delicious street food-inspired recipes that meet a range of consumer demands while demonstrating how to overcome the processing challenges faced by food and drinks manufacturers. Formulated with a number of our new ingredients, these on-stand concepts, including healthy falafel with high-fibre flatbread and cost-effective lamb kofta, tackled current industry challenges such as improving nutrition, affordability and enabling clean eating.
Our new clean label, potato-based NOVATION® Uno 190 functional native starch, featured in a spiced lamb kofta and a succulent chicken kebab, showing how we can help manufacturers improve yield by 10 – 20% and reduce costs. Suitable for processed meats, chicken nuggets and meat-based ready meals, the new functional potato starch improves processability and increases water binding for a firmer and juicier texture. It also reduces moisture loss in vacuum-packed products, to ensure less water is released following refrigerated storage, enhancing succulence and texture stability over shelf-life.
Similarly, we showcased our N-CREAMER® 2230 starch in an indulgent, low-cost tahini sauce. It is designed to help manufacturers of mayonnaise, dressings and creamy sauces create affordable recipes, particularly for on-trend low-fat formulations, without compromising on the consumer eating experience. This all-in-one emulsifier and viscosifier thickens and binds the end product to deliver a slow, creamy melt-away texture, while also helping to simplify formulations. In addition, the new modified starch also provides excellent texture stability over shelf-life.”
AF: How do you create innovation at Ingredion?
CC: “We are continually innovating by focusing on analysing the key consumer trends, making predictions and developing ingredients that meet these needs now, and in the future. At the Ingredion Idea Labs® innovation centres, our development chefs and technical experts work to pioneer new ingredient functionalities and recipe formulations across a range of applications. The centres will offer ideas and solutions to fuel innovation through consumer insights, applied research, know-how and process technology. From concept testing and cost-saving approaches to deep expertise in CULINOLOGY® and clean label formulation, Ingredion Idea Labs® support customers to develop new consumer-centric and innovative solutions and get to market quicker with greater success and profitability.
Alongside this, we are continually introducing new ingredients with unique functionality, including in 2017, HOMECRAFT® Create 835 and 865 functional rice flours – in fact the world’s first multi-functional rice flours- and our new clean label, potato-based NOVATION® Uno 190 functional native starch.
AF: What is your approach to the increasing clean label demand?
CC: The clean label trend continues to accelerate as consumers look for a greater choice in additive-free products that use recognisable ingredients. Having pioneered the introduction of clean label ingredients some 20 years ago, our innovations have enabled the food industry to adopt clean label formulations in an ever-widening range of applications. More sophisticated functionality, such as cold-water swelling starches and improved process tolerance, even in demanding high-temperature conditions, means native starches can now offer the same functionality as their modified counterparts, meeting the increasing consumer demand for clean label food and drink.
We continue to maintain our position as clean label experts in the food industry introducing new ingredients with increasingly sophisticated functionality. This year, for example, launches include our new potato-based NOVATION® Uno 190 functional native starch, which offers improved processability and water-binding capability, resulting in significant yield gains of between 10% – 20% while also reducing costs.
AF: You announced that James Zallie will become CEO in 2018. What will this mean for Ingredion?
CC: James (Jim) Zallie moves into the role of CEO from his current position of Executive Vice President, Global Specialties and President, Americas – so he is well-placed to lead the company moving forward. Jim is the architect of Ingredion Idea Labs®, a global network of innovation centers that foster customer collaboration and drive innovation and growth. He has the vision and over 30 years industry experience, as well as the leadership and technical capabilities to navigate Ingredion’s long-term strategy.
Outlining Ingredion’s future path and objectives to 2022 he has clarified that, “we anticipate strong growth opportunities focused on texture, sweetness and nutrition. Our robust technology capabilities and global innovation network give us a competitive advantage and our focus will continue to be on higher-value speciality ingredients.
AF: How will Ingredion surprise us in the next year?
CC:Ingredients which tap into the consumer demand for healthy, nutritious, clean label and gluten-free foods will be a priority in 2018. At Ingredion, we focus on analysing key consumer trends, using our extensive consumer insights to make predictions and to develop ingredients that meet these needs now, and in the future. For example, we know from our new research report, Food That Just Clicks, that consumers want food manufacturers to focus on improving the nutritional value of healthy food and they continue to want recognisable ingredients in food products too.
