The functional properties of plant-based foods, such as taste, texture, and appearance, are common pain points for consumers. Limitations and physicochemical constraints of plant-based ingredients often present difficulties in tailoring with other formulation components and ingredients. Targeting these challenges, Motif FoodWorks, a US-based ingredient company, is making moves in its ingredient discovery and design. Michael Leonard, Chief Technical Officer, says it will be “instrumental in solving some of the biggest functionality and nutritional challenges in plant-based food.”

Following on from IFT last week, Leonard spoke with FoodIngredientsFirst about his company’s “holistic approach to ingredient discovery” and how science and technology are fundamental to solving plant-based food challenges.

A challenging sector 
Creating plant-based foods with the same qualities that make animal-based foods so good – like the meltiness of cheese or creaminess of ice cream – is a complicated yet vital challenge for food manufacturers’ survival in a competitive innovation arena. 

“Traditional methods of product characterization and design are typically focused on a ‘modify and mask’ approach, which often causes product developers to fall short on delivering craveable consumer offerings. To do better, we need to solve many challenges at once, and this means rewriting the design rules of food and applying science in ways that have not been done before,” Leonard explains. 

Improved product design rules rooted in fundamental food and materials science, and the development of new ingredient technologies are required to enhance the plant-based eating experience for consumers. “The emergence of synthetic biology as a tool to precisely manufacture functional, animal-free food ingredients sustainably is demonstrating the high potential to deliver attractive formulation options to our industry.”

“Also, the application of advanced physicochemical characterization techniques to food systems helps generate significant insight into the hierarchical material behavior of food and how key properties influence the eating experience,” explains Leonard. 

One week before IFT, Motif announced a partnership with two leading US-based universities in chemical and mechanical engineering, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to develop new design rules for plant-based foods through a deep understanding of ingredient non-linear rheological properties. 

Over the past year, the company has partnered with the University of Queensland in Australia, UMass Amherst in Massachusetts, and the University of Guelph in Ontaria, to establish fundamental foundations for new plant-based food design rules. “The IFT represents the first time that Motif and our partners showcased some of the most important science and technology that underlies our technical approach,” Leonard adds. 

“At Motif, we’re reinventing the way science is applied to make better tasting, more nutritious foods that people crave,” he further details. 

Navigating the pandemic
The situation around COVID-19 continues to evolve rapidly, and Motif is taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety and health of its employees and partners. 

“COVID-19 is driving disruption across the food system, and unfortunately, much of that is out of our control. Something we see as a result of supply chain disruption is consumers aren’t able to find some of the products they would normally purchase; instead, they’re reaching for new options. We’ve heard this firsthand in conversations with potential partners in the space, who tell us they are seeing a surge in first-time customers purchasing their products,” Leonard elaborates.  

“What brands need to take away from this moment, especially in the plant-based foods space, is the critical importance of nailing their product experience – from taste and appearance to texture and nutritional quality – so that first-time customers become repeat buyers,” he says. 

For Leonard, IFT’s virtual event was “much easier to efficiently cover a lot of ground in the virtual format. While that is a benefit, there is no substitute for in-person interactions and human connections.” 

“Since the topic of food is so personal and emotionally meaningful for us, we need to work even harder to ensure that we communicate the work we are doing at Motif using the virtual tools at our disposal,” he flags.