With the demand for vegan meat alternatives on the rise, Hydrosol has expanded its range of plant-based products through the launch of HydroTOP VEGAN Patty PP, a stabilizing system free of soy, wheat and other allergens. Together with the company’s sunflower-based texturate, Hydrosolcustomers can use HydroTOP VEGAN Patty PP to make vegan burger patties that are reportedly extremely similar to meat products in taste, texture and mouthfeel. According to one company executive, the food processing industry is already showing significant interest.

Key players moving into the space underscores the shift to plant-based meat alternatives. For instance, last month Burger King announced it would roll out Impossible Foods’ meatless patties in its US restaurants, following a successful trial in St Louis, Missouri. Nestlé made its latest foray into the meat-free market by launching a new “cook from raw” plant-based burger for European markets, while McDonald’s Germany launched a vegan burger for the first time, made with Nestlé’s plant-based Incredible Burger – made from soy and wheat proteins.

Hydrosol’s new stabilizing system is based on fava bean and pea protein, and since it has just one E-number, it aligns with the declaration-friendly product trend. Hydrosol says that it’s seeking international distribution partners for this product concept, and will consider exclusive cooperation models. 

“There are many customer requests from the food processing industry regarding vegan food products. The trend goes more and more to convenience products like burger patties,” Florian Bark, Product Manager at Hydrosol, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

Veganism is not just a trend anymore, claims Bark. “When franchise companies introduce a vegan burger menu in their daily selecion, the products are out of the niche and we can accelerate the development with our knowledge and state-of-the-art solutions.”

“We always get great feedback for our vegan concepts. Most of our customers visit us immediately at our Stern Technology Center in Ahrensburg, near Hamburg, to complete the final product according to their needs,” he continues. “This saves a lot of development time in their own pilot plants.”

According to Bark, allergen-free is essential but more important than that is the taste, the color and the texture of a product. “These are the attributes for consumers to repurchase a product and that is important for our clients,” he adds. 

“Plant-based and vegan are definitely the key topics for the future, but sustainability and regionality are becoming increasingly important. Especially for the younger generation of customers,” Bark notes. 

In addition to this allergen-free vegan functional system, Hydrosol offers proven systems, based on wheat and soy protein with wheat texturate, that give “delicious burger patties.” These all-in compounds are also suitable for many other vegan products, from meatball and köfte alternatives to vegan rissoles and ćevapčići, a grilled minced meat dish from southeastern Europe. They are freeze/thaw-stable and can easily be worked into ready meals, the company notes. 

Hydrosol has been presenting its concepts this week at IFFA 2019, in Frankfurt (May 4-9). In a video interviewat the show, Bark noted the trend towards vegetarian burgers and how ingredient solutions providers can address it.  

Last month, Bark also noted that hybrid foods would be one of the salient trends in 2019, as it opens up new possibilities in the reformulation of plant- and animal-based products.