With honour we introduce you to Marc Gelautz, Strategic Marketing & PR Manager at Brabender as our long-time partner in the Global Plant-Based Foods & Proteins EcoSystem. As the plant-based food industry is a very young and continuously growing industry, the EcoSystem provides Brabender with a valuable platform enabling collaboration with other experts to further evolve ideas supporting the protein transition. Marc has shared his perspective on this protein transition, and how involvement in the EcoSystem can help to accelerate.
What kind of role in the protein transition would your organisation like to fulfill?
Due to our decades-long partnership with the food and feed industry and research, especially in grain, flour, and starch analytics and the related development of products, recipes, methods, or processes, we know about the current challenges in this field. Recently, we have been focusing on alternative protein sources, which has resulted in many new projects, e.g. with partners working on product development from gluten-free raw materials, pulses, or even algae. With this expertise, we aim to support universities, research institutes, and food companies in their search for protein-based raw materials with the optimal processing properties and the best material composition and formulation for a given plant-based alternative to an end product of animal origin. Examples of those plant-based products are meat analogues made from expanded or wet texturized proteins, but also plant-based dairy products such as pudding. Our goal is therefore to contribute significantly to the development and improvement of uniform and binding methods and standards for the analysis of plant and protein-based food ingredients.
How can your organisation assist in accelerating the transition?
Through laboratory-scale trials performed with our equipment, a formulation for a product based on alternative proteins can be quickly varied and optimized in terms of material composition and processing parameters. Thus, the development of new products can be carried out with lower consumption of time and material compared to the production scale. In this area, we support industry and research in the development of processes, new products, and product formulations. Furthermore, by developing methods for raw material characterization, Brabender can help to establish standardized procedures that help suppliers and producers to compare results and qualities.
What is so exciting about the Global Plant-Based Foods EcoSystem for you and your organisation?
The Bridge2Food Global Plant-Based Foods EcoSystem is a heterogeneous mix of entities from industry and research. Compared to many other networks, we believe that one of the outstanding features is the lively collaboration between the partners and the active working groups that tackle challenges together. We also appreciate the regular meetings to exchange information and knowledge, to get to know the partners and their expertise in their business field. This regular exchange and gathering of information from the partners helps to monitor the status quo and the strategies to be developed in each case. In terms of our dedicated business, the EcoSystem is also a valuable platform for Brabender to increase awareness of its product portfolio as well as the laboratory services offered. Therefore, we highly value the opportunity to connect with partners for potential collaborations inside and outside the network.
===========================================================
About the EcoSystem
275+ Industry Leaders from 110 Organisations are partnering since 2019 in the Global Plant-Based Foods Ecosystem, to accelerate the transition towards a more plant-based diet, with better foods, produced in a sustainable way, as well as increase food security with an abundant supply of proteins for food, feed, and pet food markets.
Innovation, Research & Development Leaders from Food Brands, Ingredient & Processing Companies, Institutes, Universities, Grower Associations, and Breeders collaborate on such a future with concrete actions, deliverables, and outcomes. To be involved in the EcoSystem and to join bi-weekly meetings, you can register here. To get all details on the EcoSystem, you can check out this page.
