Plant based proteins for baked goods

Macarons

Puratos has partnered with Shiru, a functional ingredient company for the food industry, to discover plant-based protein ingredients for bakery, patisserie and chocolate products, improving sustainability and nutritional value without sacrificing taste.

Shiru’s discovery platform Flourish utilises bioinformatics and machine learning to search through hundreds of millions of naturally occurring proteins to identify promising candidates with a specific food function – for use as ingredients in baked goods. Using precision fermentation and high-throughput screening techniques, Shiru then produces these proteins in their labs where its performance will be evaluated as ingredients. The end result is an ingredient that can be produced sustainably at scale, to bring brand new functionalities or replace an animal-based product.

“Puratos already offers a full range of plant-based solutions that enable the removal of dairy, eggs and butter with taste, texture and functionality as close as possible to the traditional counterpart. What is most important is that we have unequivocal evidence showing that these plant-based alternatives are significantly better for the planet,” explained Paul Baisier, Chief R&D Officer at Puratos. “Life-cycle assessment of the environmental footprint of these products concludes that the impact of our plant-based egg-wash alternative, Sunset Glaze, on the planet is 59% lower than pasteurized eggs, while the impact of our plant-based butter alternative, Mimetic, is three times lower than dairy butter.”

“With the large market opportunity the baking industry presents us, partnering with Puratos was a natural fit in developing our functional protein ingredients,” added Jasmin Hume, CEO and Founder at Shiru. “Puratos is a global leader in the industry, and by working together, we have the chance to make a major impact towards a more sustainable food system.”

Together with Puratos, Shiru will scale production and testing of target functional proteins, to accelerate the timeline for making these ingredients available in baked gods for consumers. Puratos has a history of innovation, a track record of partnerships with universities and start-ups, and utilising technology to facilitate breakthroughs.

Shiru is also exhibiting in Purato’s PuraDome, a FoodTech Center where the harsh conditions of Mars are used as an ‘inspiration’ to faciliate food innovation.

“At Puratos, we truly believe that collaborations can fuel innovation within the food ecosystem,” concluded Mr Baisier. “As a company rooted in biology and science, Shiru is the perfect partner in the Puratos’s journey to finding novel uses for proteins discovered by Shiru’s Flourish platform as functional food ingredients that are sustainable, healthy and delicious.”

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Media contact

Editor, International Bakery
Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 920
Email: editor@in-bakery.com

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