Novozymes develops product to cut noodle costs

Researchers at the company's R&D facility in Beijing have found a way to reduce the palm oil content used in frying most of the instant noodles on the market. The innovation would make the product healthier too. "In China, cost is the biggest concern for customers. We analysed the cost structure of instant noodles and found that the palm oil they are fried with dominates the price,"​ Cherry Xu, project manager at the R&D centre, told AP-Foodtechnology.com. The firm says it has good laboratory results, confirmed by small-scale pilot tests, showing that its new enzyme can reduce the oil content by a significant amount. It is hoping to scale-up production of the technology in coming months, in collaboration with a Chinese noodle producer. The new ingredient could also appeal to companies looking to make their noodles healthier. Foodmakers across Asia are starting to respond to increasing consumer interest in health with companies in Japan especially keen to improve formulations. In China, new brand Wu Gu Dao Chang launched an unfried noodle range last year, tapping into consumer fears over the carcinogen acrylamide, produced when starchy food is heated to high temperatures. Novozymes is also researching how to improve the elasticity and texture of noodles. Its scientists have recently identified a component involved in elasticity and will be looking at how to use enzymes to make this component more efficient. Noodles are one of China's biggest selling processed foods. In 2005, 46 billion bags of instant noodles were produced and the sales reached CNY32.6 billion (€3.2bn). Novozymes, which makes about a fifth of its sales in the Asia-Pacific region, has been developing new products in China since the end of 1997, when it set up one of its three main R&D centres for global operations. The facility recently brought a new enzyme to market to improve the whiteness of steamed buns. "Chinese people attach great importance to the whiteness of flour-based foods,"​ explained Xu. But with more than 1,000 types of wheat in China, most flour has highly variable pigment levels. Enzymes can degrade the pigment-producing carotenoids in flour, such as beta-carotene, resulting in whiter steamed buns, dumplings and noodles. Xu noted that although the outside of a steamed bun will be whiter when formulated with the Novozymes product thanks to the exposure to oxygen on the outer surface, beta-carotene content in the inside of the bun will be retained, guarding the nutrient levels. An enzyme with a similar function may also be created for the US bakery sector. Currently soy flours are widely used to give white bread a whiter crumb. In future, microbial enzymes could replace specific enzymes in soy flour, both improving the whiteness and reducing risk of allergy, says Novozymes.