Cognis says new long-life bakery enzyme will ease supply chain worries
Nutrilife AS M is a bakery enzyme preparation that the firm claims “significantly slows down staling and improves the elasticity of the crumb” when added to products such as sandwich bread, buns and Italian sweet bread loaf panettone, although it is aimed at producers of all yeast-raised baked products.
Simplify supply chain management
The optimised maltogenic amylase is tailored so that its anti-staling effect makes longer supply chains easier for customers to manage, where it can be added to existing formulations in dosages of 3-10g per 100kg of flour, with precise levels dependent on the shelf life desired.
Andreas Funke, global product line food ingredients, Cognis said demand for such a solution was strong in both developed and developing markets alike, although it will not be available in the US: “It gives bread a lasting crumb structure, without losing softness,” he said.
Holger Riemensperger, director global product line food ingredients added that taste and freshness would always be the most important criteria for end consumers buying bakery and bread products, “as a good mouth feel is central to the pleasure of eating them”.
A Cognis spokeswoman told FoodNavigator.com that other "secondary effects" including resource savings due to less discarded, wasted bread; and environmental benegits due to less frequent transports between bakeries and supermarkets.
She added that the firm expected worldwide demand for the enzyme, but that "countries with bread types and infrastructure that typically require a longer shelf life" were a specific target; although the enzyme "plays in the premium league" she described its cost in use as competitive.
Positive test performance
Data released by Cognis shows that in-house tests on bread comparing Nutrilife AS M with an existing (although unnamed) anti-staling enzyme – on the basis of adding the products at levels of 60 pars per million (ppm) and 100ppm – resulted in a significantly less hard product after up to 14 days storage.
AS M is only the latest addition to Cognis’s Nutrilife stable, where Nutrilife ME 01 (launched in December 2007) was marketed as a preparation to improve the quality of flour at a time of high grain prices.
Funke told FoodNavigator.com at the time: "Our new products remove the need for manufacturers to engage in complex flour selection and combination processes.They simplify process flows in flour mills, and reduce the use of costly hard wheat flour."
