Flavour and ingredient success in an encapsulated format!

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Suzanne Callander recently revisited TasteTech to find out how its encapsulated ingredient and flavour offerings can offer bespoke and cost-saving solutions in a wide range of  confectionery, bakery and chewing gum applications. Since 1992, when Roger and Janis Sinton originally set up TasteTech with several colleagues from the flavouring industry, the company has worked tirelessly towards its goal of bringing the many benefits of encapsulated flavourings and ingredients to the food industry. Over the years it has become a leading innovator in this technique and has helped to solve many food processing and manufacturing problems for its food industry customer base. Sadly, in 2007 Roger died suddenly, following a short illness, and Janis took up the reins as managing director, to ensure that the company continued with its original goals. To ensure continuity, TasteTech designs all of its equipment in-house and everything is built locally to ensure that it meets the very demanding specifications set by the company for all of its processes. Why encapsulate? The use of liquid flavours often has the drawback of contaminating the machinery on which it is being processed. Encapsulating volatile flavours and ingredients will reduce this problem, which can have a huge impact on clean-down times and costs. Encapsulating a flavour also enables better control of flavour flash-off during the cooking process. In some instances this can also result in a requirement for less flavour to be used in a recipe, as more will be retained through the processing procedure. “As a pioneer of encapsulation technology, specialising in encapsulated food ingredients and natural flavourings, our products can be used in a wide range of bakery confectionery and gum applications to improve quality, solve problems and add value,” Janis told me. “We have a comprehensive portfolio of products which can give winning off-the-shelf results but mostly we will work in partnership with a customer to produce bespoke solutions to solve their technical problems.” Gary Gray, technical manager, added: “We can supply flavourings in liquid, spray dried, or fat encapsulated formats, and it is also possible to supply an identical flavour profile in any of these formats, if required.” Encapsulation pioneers Frost & Sullivan has recently suggested that demand for encapsulation is growing at a rate of 10% year on year, driven by the need to fortify products with healthy ingredients and by consumer demand for ever more novel and innovative products. Janis had already touched on the subject of Tastetech being a pioneer of encapsulation techniques for ingredients and flavours, so I wanted to find out more. “Put simply, encapsulation is a process by which tiny particles of flavour, or active ingredients, are surrounded by a protective coating which allows them to pass through processing, storage, cooking and even digestion, to deliver their properties when the coating is broken down,” Janis told me. Spray drying is also a form of encapsulation. If the ingredient or flavour undergoes a spray drying process, for example, the active ingredient will be water soluble, and as such will only be released when it is added to water.  A more durable fat encapsulation process will help delay the release of the ingredient or flavour, protecting it until the fat is either melted during processing, or indeed, chewed in the mouth. So, in summary encapsulation can help to ensure that the chemical reaction of an ingredient does not occur until it is wanted. It can also protect key ingredients from environmental conditions that could spoil its effectiveness. It can be used to protect ingredients from heat, low PH, oxidation, light and flavour loss. It can mask undesirable flavours and prevent interaction with other ingredients. It can improve delivery of an ingredient, increase stability and shelf-life, reduce production losses and so increase plant capacity.  The encapsulation processes The TasteTech encapsulation facility consists of three processes which provide a variety of CR (Controlled Release) options, based on the encapsulation properties of a variety of carrier systems. By forming a coating around the internal ingredients, a barrier is created to protect or separate them from the external environment until required. Release can be triggered by a change in temperature or by mechanical release – such as chewing. • The CR300 encapsulation system offers the lightest fat encapsulation of powders and results in a finished product that is between 80% to 97% ingredient with the remainder being encapsulation material. The ingredient is fluidised in a temperature-controlled environment while the lipid coating is applied by atomisation to produce a dry, free-flowing, granular powder, which is suitable for use in many applications. • The CR100 encapsulation system results in a finished product that can consist of up to 60% encapsulation material.  This process sees the flavouring and/or ingredient being introduced to a custom-designed coating. This mixture is atomised in a temperature-controlled environment, which produces fine, dry, oil-soluble particles. • Finally, the CR200 process converts difficult to handle ingredients into fine, free flowing powders. Active ingredients – such as citric acid or menthol – are added to free-flowing agents and/or stabilisers and are then pressed through a proprietary hybridisation process to produce a microfine powder, which is suitable for use in a wide range of applications.   Bakery applications TasteTech has done a lot of work with its customers in the confectionery, bakery and chewing gum industries. In bakery applications it has helped customers to achieve bake-stable flavours and to ensure that an ingredient is protected during a processing operation which may harm it, or reduce the quality of the finished product. Gary explained a good example of this: “One of our biggest selling bakery products today is a fat encapsulated sorbic acid, which is a good preservative and a mould inhibitor. However, if sorbic acid is added at the initial stage in the bread making process, as well as killing moulds, it will also inhibit yeast growth – a very undesirable quality! In a fat encapsulated format the sorbic acid is kept separate from the yeast, until it has done its job – making the bread rise. In the baking process the sorbic acid is finally released, at temperatures of around 60°C, offering longer shelf lives for many bread and bakery products.” TasteTech can back up these claims too...independent studies undertaken by Campden BRI Food Research have confirmed that a shelf life of 12 days is possible using this ingredient. On sugar coated products, encapsulation also has an important role to play, helping to keep a product looking fresher for longer. Encapsulating a product coating or sugar finish, will greatly slow up the process of moisture leaching from the product, or the atmosphere, and dissolving the coating, which makes the product look very unappetising. Chewing gum applications One of the big issues that concerns chewing gum manufacturers today is finding ways of increasing the flavour longevity of their gum offerings. Consumers want the flavour to last much longer. Janis told me more about the work TasteTech has been doing in cooperation with its chewing gum customers. “We have worked with many gum manufacturers, and understand the need to increase the longevity of the flavour in the chewing gum. Today, consumers expect the flavour in their gum to last up to 20 minutes. Encapsulation technology offers a really good way to meet this requirement.” Janis went on to explain just some of the benefits of the company’s CR100 and CR200 offerings in gum applications. “CR100 is a fine powder system which offers encapsulation of liquids or powders. It is often used to encapsulate intense sweeteners and food acids, as well as flavourings and key ingredients such as sodium bicarbonate, ascorbic acid, vitamins and caffeine, where it can be used to mask bitter flavours. The uniform-sized spheres are fine enough to avoid a gritty texture, which would not be acceptable in gum applications, and the active ingredient is released slowly as the gum is chewed, and not before,” she told me. Meeting the trends TasteTech prides itself on its ability to keep up with the many consumer trends in the food industry. For example, In line with the ongoing consumer dislike of anything containing hydrogenated fats, and consequently manufacturers need to offer  ‘clean label’ products, TasteTech has developed an alternative to its original hydrogenated encapsulation fat, and can now also offer a fractionated (distilled) palm oil option too.  Gary Gray, technical manager at TasteTech, explains further: “Historically we have used fully hydrogenated fat because it offered the correct melting point and contained virtually no trans-fats. However, in today's environment, and even at the very low dosages that an encapsulated ingredient or flavour contains, to obtain a completely ‘clean label’ the EU demands that a product must contain no hydrogenated fats. To meet this demand we can offer our vegetable oil alternative.” The increasing price of cocoa as an ingredient has also come under TasteTech’s spotlight. To offer manufacturers a cost-effective solution to this problem, it has revised its range of chocolate flavourings – including natural types – which can help reduce the amount of cocoa needed in a recipe. These flavours are available in liquid, lipid encapsulated or spray dried form and can be used in a variety of applications such as sweets, chewing gum, cakes, truffles, sauces, pastries, bread and nutritional products. Janis said: “Our chocolate flavourings are providing new and exciting opportunities to the confectionery and baking industries. They are concentrated, which means that cost savings can be made, not only by a reduction in cocoa usage, but also on transportation and storage costs. “We are renowned for the quality of our brown flavours – such as chocolate butter, vanilla, golden syrup and cream which are always appreciated in bakery applications. When producing flavours such as these is it important to retain the top-notes and a good, balanced flavour.” The addition of brown note flavours can also help to reduce the need for added sugar in some recipes. TasteTech can also offer a range of encapsulated sweeteners and is currently working on encapsulating stevia – a herb which has been used for centuries as a sweetener and flavour enhancer. Another increasing trend is the move to ‘natural’ ingredients and flavours and consumer demand for ‘clean labels’. To address this need, TasteTech has, for some time, been reviewing its range of nature identical flavourings and is now also able to offer a wide selection of natural alternatives. In conclusion, if you have an ingredient or flavour problem in any of your recipes or new product development projects which need to be resolved, it may just  be worth speaking to TasteTech. The company prides itself on its problem-solving capabilities and, using its huge portfolio of offerings, its state-of-the-art processing facilities and its own flavour laboratory, it is able to a create a bespoke flavour solution to meet almost any requirement. www.tastetech.com

 

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