Neus Arenas, Customer Market Leader Confectionery and Bakery & Snacks Europe at Roquette, shares how the company is responding to growing demand for better-for-you baked goods
How is Roquette responding to the growing consumer demand for better-for-you bakery products, and what does that mean to you in practical formulation terms?
At Roquette, ‘better-for-you’ means reimagining baked goods so consumers can enjoy the tastes and textures they love – now with enhanced nutritional value. We help brands reformulate recipes by adding wholesome ingredients, such as plant-based proteins and soluble fibres, while cutting back on less ‘nutritious’ ingredients, such as sugar. Our solutions also support compliance with front-of-pack labelling requirements, making it easier for products to stand out as healthier choices.
From a formulation standpoint, we’re focused on enabling balanced nutrition. This includes supporting satiety, blood sugar management, and digestive wellness with intelligent ingredient choices. For example, our NUTRIOSE® soluble fibre supports gut health and also serves as a smart replacement for sugar – retaining product texture and bulk without impacting taste. And our NUTRALYS® plant proteins help boost protein content while maintaining dough behaviour, especially our NUTRALYS® B85F – a pea protein isolate variant, which is designed specifically for bakery applications.
These ingredients help our customers develop bakery products that not only taste great but have enhanced nutritional profiles, earning their place in consumers’ daily diets by aligning with their health goals. That could mean a high-fibre breakfast muffin for digestive support or a high-protein cake snack for satiety and muscle maintenance.
What ingredients or technologies are helping bakers deliver healthier baked goods without compromising on taste or texture?
Achieving healthier formulations without sacrificing sensory experience is a key challenge. Our approach is grounded in functionality and familiarity by design – in other words, our ingredients are engineered to perform reliably during processing while delivering the taste, appearance and mouthfeel that consumers expect.
This is where NUTRALYS® B85F comes in. This pea protein has a protein content of 85%, doesn’t bind water and minimises disruption of dough rheology, which makes it easier to integrate into existing recipes without the need for major process or formulation changes. Bakers can therefore increase protein content without disrupting texture, rise or handling during production.
Such innovations empower bakers to create better-for-you products that are enjoyable, familiar and convenient to consume.
Why is fibre enrichment such a focus in today’s bakery sector, and what solutions does Roquette offer to help brands meet this nutritional goal?
Fibre enrichment is increasingly in the spotlight for several reasons. Firstly, there’s growing awareness of how fibre supports gut health – particularly soluble fibre, through its prebiotic role in feeding beneficial microbiota and managing rates of nutrient absorption, including sugars. Consumers are also more familiar with the gut-brain axis and how digestive health can influence energy, mood and even sleep.
Secondly, global fibre intake remains below recommended levels in most populations. Baked goods are ideally positioned to help close this gap as a staple in many diets. And, the growing popularity of naturally fermented products like sourdough, rich in prebiotics and probiotics, makes them an even more attractive vehicle for added nutrition.
At Roquette, our NUTRIOSE® 06 soluble fibre provides a powerful solution by supporting digestive comfort, microbiome balance and satiety, without introducing the side effects often associated with other fibres, such as bloating or gas. It can be used to enrich fibre content, reduce sugar, and even function as a binder to maintain the integrity of baked goods. We recommend it for brands looking to create more balanced, gut-friendly recipes, without compromising on sensory quality.
By enriching bakery products with NUTRIOSE®, manufacturers can improve nutritional density while still delivering the taste and texture that consumers know and love.
Read the full interview in our latest issue here
