CSM Ingredients inaugurates a new Innovation Center dedicated to fats, oils and emulsifiers, in Delmenhorst, Germany, and focuses on uncovering the segment’s new sustainable frontiers through research on microbial oils, enzyme technology and new plant-based solutions
CSM Ingredients, a global player in the innovation and production of food tech ingredients, is significantly increasing its efforts towards the research and innovation of the fats & oils segment. As part of the newly implemented areas of research, the company is actively investing in identifying and delivering new solutions aimed at promoting sustainability and nutritional benefits to human health.
As a way to meet this lofty ambition, CSM Ingredients recently inaugurated a new Innovation Center dedicated to fats, oils and emulsifiers, in Delmenhorst, Germany. The primary objective of the newly created hub is to deliver innovative solutions focusing on plant-based and sustainable food technologies, and also to attract leading experts in various fields to collaborate and work towards achieving this goal, ranging from specialized researchers to innovative start-ups working in the food tech sector.
CSM Ingredients’ efforts in process innovation in the production and application of fats & oils focuses primarily in three areas:
- Sustainability: increased efforts to uncover sustainable alternatives to animal products such as specialized margarines to replace dairy fat and butter or oleogels to mimic fatty tissue in vegan meat analogues. Additionally, CSM Ingredients is focusing on discovering substitutes for plant-based oils that have a significant environmental impact during production. For example, the company is exploring new methods of obtaining microbial oils, which are produced by yeast or algae and can be grown using a variety of renewable feedstocks in various conditions. Another approach to sustainability is the use of enzyme technology to replace highly energy consuming production processes and thus having a lower impact on the environment. To do this, CSM Ingredients is partnering with various start-up companies and operates innovation hubs in Germany, Israel, Singapore and the United States.
- Nutrition: considering the World Health Organization’s guidelines affirming that less than 30% of human daily calorie intake should come from fats (avoiding saturated fats) CSM Ingredients’ new fields of research are focused on finding healthier alternatives to saturated fats. In most food applications, highly saturated fats play an important role to texturize and stabilize the products. For example, they give firmness to chocolate or make butter spreadable. CSM Ingredients is looking for solutions to texturize unsaturated, but liquid oils to make food products healthier, but still deliver functionality and indulgence.
- Functionality: The products from CSM are known to deliver functionality and stability to the processes of artisanal and industrial bakery and food production. Although the company is making significant strides in replicating the tasty quality of traditional fats, but with a lower impact on the environment, and better nutritional value, the promise of functionality should not be compromised. An offering that represents both a sustainable alternative and has the potential to provide consumers with a stable and delicious product are Oleogels: functional alternatives utilizing healthy liquid oils that use a proteins or other components to mimic the behavior of solid fats.
Indeed, CSM Ingredients’ investments in research & innovation is upscaling the group’s scientific know-how to support a transition towards healthier and more sustainable products. This is CSM Ingredients’ latest step in its journey to becoming a “net-positive ingredient tech platform.” However, the Company’s main strength in innovation is not only based on a novel innovation center for fats oils and emulsifiers, but on a cross-functional network consisting of research centers in Goes (The Netherlands), Bingen and Delmenhorst (Germany), Fort Worth (United States), and its Hi-Food business unit in Parma (Italy).
Aldo Uva, CSM Ingredients CEO stated, “At CSM Ingredients, we work tirelessly to identify new and existing opportunities based on emerging and growing trends through open innovation and be at the forefront of the evolution of food ingredients. As such, our increased efforts in the fats & oils segment represent a fundamental aspect for elevating our Research & Innovation expertise, aiming at creating final products that feature excellent taste and quality”. He added: “We believe our newly opened Innovation Center in Delmenhorst will serve as a center of excellence aimed at developing a new generation of innovative food ingredient solutions that will have a positive, sustainable impact on our planet and at the same time will improve human nutrition.”
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