Naturalness, healthy products and innovations are focus of the product solutions that Bell Flavors & Fragrances develops for food and beverage manufacturers in the EMEA region.

In line with the companys vision of creating successful product concepts, Bell concentrates on the development of products and innovations that define and differentiate taste. Inspiring flavour solutions and innovative product creations, as well as adopting global and local trends in the food and beverage sector at an early stage, belongs to the companys top priorities.

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TASTE AND FUNCTIonALITY ARE NOT A CONTRADICTION!

Whether sugar reduction, high protein products or vegan foods, Bell will continue to intensify its efforts on flavour solutions that address changing consumer needs and respond to important market dynamics. Flavours and extracts for the extraordinary dynamic markets such as organic food and drinks, plant-based alternatives and sugar reduced products will further play a key role in future innovations and developments.

PLANTFUTURE - THE FUTURE IS GOING GREEN

With consumers increasingly avoiding animal protein on a daily basis, plant-based diets have evolved beyond traditional vegetarian and vegan consumers and are moving into mainstream – substantially driven by flexitarian and younger consumer groups. Next to an increasing health awareness, motivations for plant-based diets also include environmental concerns and a focus on sustainability as well as food safety and animal welfare. At the same time, novelty factors and a growing, multi-facetted choice is driving consumer interest.

Developing a profound understanding of plant-based categories, such as dairy, meat and fish alternatives and the key protein sources used is mandatory for creating successful product formulations. Bell therefore combines its expertise in flavour creation with a comprehensive understanding of the sensory effects of plant proteins, helping manufacturers to overcome challenges in product development. Within the new PLANT FUTURE platform, Bell adopts a holistic approach for plant-based alternatives, providing a toolbox of natural flavour solutions for various formulations and product segments.

Herewith, Bell’s team of flavourists and sensory experts identified the potential off-tastes of various protein sources, including soy, wheat, pea, rice, oat, almond and coconut and its organoleptic effects on taste and other characteristics, including texture and mouthfeel. based on the application needs, the team developed a range of functional masking solutions that help to mitigate specific off-notes and create a more neutral and appealing sensory profile. Bell further investigated in specific flavours helping to achieve a more rounded taste characteristic, such as full-bodied umami or meaty notes next to enriching creamy profiles creating a characteristic and dairy-like taste and mouthfeel. Additionally, the platform offers a broad range of natural flavours and characteristic top notes for differentiating taste profiles within the specific end-uses.

Bell`s PLANTFUTRUE flavour portfolio is meant to enable manufacturers to develop a clean label plant-based product portfolio for dairy alternatives, such as drinks, yoghurt-alternatives and ice cream, next to meat substitutes such as burger patties or nuggets, and fish substitutes. Targeting the growing market for plant-based high protein and sports nutrition products, Bell further focused on masking profiles and authentic natural flavour profiles for high protein powder shakes and high protein bars.

ORGANIC CERTIFIED FLAVOURINGS AS A SOLUTION TO REGULATORY HURDLES

Organic food has experienced high growth in recent years. Reasons primarily base on consumers increasing interest in naturalness, transparency and clean labelling, as well as a change in attitude towards the environment and nature. Non-alcoholic beverages, spices, baked goods, snacks and dairy products, belong to the most dynamic categories using organic claims.

According to the new EU Regulation (EU) 848/2018 for organic-certified products binding January, 1st, 2022, organic food manufacturers are required to use only "natural X-flavours" or flavouring extracts in order to maintain their organic certification in their current and future market launches.

To meet this future market needs and regulatory aspects, Bell EMEA has expanded its comprehensive portfolio of flavours following the successful organic certification of its European production site. The strengthened expertise in the organic flavour segment aligned with the investment in the European production site reflects Bells strong competence within creation, sourcing, production as well as in the regulatory area.

The newly developed range of certified organic natural X-flavours and compounds supports manufacturers to meet the changing requirements of the EU Organic regulation while integrating authentic flavour profile. In addition to organic certified flavours, Bell offers a wide range of organic, natural X-flavours (95/5) and extracts, as well as comprehensive support in product reformulation and compliance with all regulations.

REDSugar - LESS IS MORE!

Sugar reduction is one of the central topics of the food and beverage industry, especially in Western Europe. Political restrictions, efforts by manufacturers to reduce the sugar content in their products, and consumers increasing health awareness are encouraging reformulations, leading to a rising demand for sugar-reduced products, especially within the beverages, dairy and ice cream segments. But the reduction of sugar in food products represents a major challenge for manufacturers, as not only technical product properties within the production process are affected, but above all taste, mouthfeel and texture.

As a valuable partner with a high level of expertise in taste, Bell has therefore set itself the goal of offering functional solutions to this problematic that not only positively influence the taste, mouthfeel and ultimately texture of sugar-reduced products, but are also in line with consumers clean labelling expectations.

With "REDsugar" Bell offers a product range consisting of natural flavours to deliver taste solutions that enables sugar reduction in
• beverages,
• dairy products,
• ice cream,
• bakery products and
• savoury sauces

while meeting the high expectations of todays consumers for naturalness, enjoyment and sensory properties. The range was especially developed to maintain the unique sensory characteristics in the various applications, while emphasizing the unique sweetness, mouthfeel and texture of the product with a 30% reduction in sugar, depending on the type of application.

In line with our understanding and our extensive expertise, we set ourselves the standard that every application requires different approaches in keeping the taste and the product appeal when reducing sugar. We therefore applied our flavour house expertise in developing tailormade flavour solutions that can be individually adapted to your specific needs, delivering intense, high-quality and satisfying product properties.