Ingredion has expanded its portfolio of clean label texturisers, with four Novation Lumina instant cold water swelling (CWS) starches – the Novation Lumina 340, 650, 4600 and 5600. The functional native CWS starches provide viscosity, and are designed for savoury and bakery filling applications. They will enable manufacturers to create recipes with a cleaner label and more recognisable ingredients that consumers trust. 

The market of clean label food and drink is set to be valued at over $64 billion by 20261. 

Constantin Drapatz, Senior Marketing Manager Clean and Simple Ingredients, Ingredion EMEA, said: “Consumer demand across Europe, the Middle East and Africa for products with a ‘natural’ or ‘all-natural’ claim, increased by 30% from 2019 to 2020, this claim shows the highest growth rate and market size 2. We are seeing a big comeback of frozen foods, as people are working from home and, myself included, are in need of convenient meals. Additionally, clean label in bakery is growing and is among the top five categories wher consumers want clean label options3. So, the launch of our new starch portfolio has come at a very valuable time for manufacturers.” 

Ingredion´s proprietary Lumina technology reportedly enables manufacturers to create delicate food applications, that require mild flavours and colours. The starches are suitable for use in mayonnaise, dressings, sauces and dips and pizza toppings. In ready meals in particular, these instant starches have various support functions - cold-dishing, preventing excessive flow, adjusting batter and sauce viscosities, as well as allowing for the suspension of particulates. 

Drapatz continued: “Product developers can create consumer-preferred textures and be reassured on shelf-life stability and in-process performance with our new range. Additionally, product marketers can take advantage of the most impactful claims in EMEA, such as ´natural´ and no additives4. In the short-term, organic positioning has seen a strong boost. And looking at the medium to longer-term, shorter labels and ingredients that are multi-functional whilst complementing the product´s core values, will become increasingly more important.” 

The launch consists of four types of cold water swelling starches to meet varying requirements. The starches combine light-colouring and neutral flavour with cold storage and freeze/thaw stability with a high process tolerance, the company claims. 

The 4600 variant is a clean label, waxy maize starch with medium process tolerance, providing viscosity without heating and glossiness, while the 5600 version combines this functionality with coarse granularity. 

The 340 and 650 variants are designed for extended cold-storage and frozen ready meals, as well as dressings that are prone to gelling over their shelf life.