MILLBIO, a specialist in natural ingredients and solutions for industrial bakery, has announced a partnership with Thimus, the sensory-neuroscience company, to advance the development and market understanding of functional bakery products.
The collaboration brings together Millbio’s expertise in natural and functional ingredients for industrial bread with Thimus’ neuroscience-led approach to understanding consumer preference. Together, the companies will explore how sensory neuroscience can support the development, positioning and communication of bakery products designed to support the GLP-1 pathway.
At the centre of the work is Panvivo GLP1ve, Millbio’s functional bread ingredient concept. It has been developed to help manufacturers respond to growing consumer interest in nutrient-dense products emerging from the high-growth GLP-1 space, while retaining the taste, texture, familiarity and everyday appeal expected of bread.
Understanding the consumer experience
The partnership reflects a shared belief that the future of food innovation must unite functional ambition with a detailed understanding of real consumer behaviour. Millbio and Thimus have worked together to explore consumer responses to the Panvivo GLP1ve concept. Rather than relying solely on what people consciously report through traditional product testing, the approach adds insight into implicit emotional and cognitive responses during the food experience.
Thimus’ T-Box platform combines conventional consumer feedback with sensory-neuroscience data, helping food businesses investigate factors such as implicit liking, familiarity, emotional engagement and cognitive effort. This can provide a richer understanding of how people experience a product, and the sensory and emotional cues that can influence acceptance, relevance and repeat choice.
For Millbio, the insights generated through the partnership will inform product fine-tuning and innovation decisions, as well as audience understanding, targeting and messaging in the functional food space.
Alessandro Boggiani, CEO of Millbio, said: “The functional food market is developing rapidly. However, no matter how compelling a nutritional proposition may be, it must also work for people in the real world.
“Bread is an everyday food with powerful expectations around taste, texture, enjoyment and familiarity. Our partnership with Thimus enables us to deepen our understanding of how consumers respond to our concepts and to apply that learning to create even stronger products.
“Panvivo GLP1ve reflects Millbio’s commitment to making innovation practical. We want to help our customers create bakery products that answer changing nutritional needs while remaining recognisable, enjoyable and commercially relevant.”
Combining function with familiarity
Mario Ubiali, Founder and CEO of Thimus, said: “Food choice is not determined by rational information alone. The way people experience food is shaped by emotional and cognitive responses, many of which are difficult to capture through conventional questions alone.
“The combination of Millbio’s bakery expertise and Thimus’ sensory-neuroscience capabilities, underpinned by our mutual NPD knowledge and global network, creates a more complete route to understanding the complex factors influencing the buying choices of the modern consumer.”
Food manufacturers, bakery businesses, ingredient partners and retailers interested in learning more about Panvivo GLP1ve, or in exploring the Millbio and Thimus approach to consumer-led functional-food innovation, are invited to contact either company directly.
