Kerry has unveiled an enzyme solution that can help bakers reduce their egg use by up to 30% in a variety of products. The company says its Biobake EgR reduction enzyme system can also enable manufacturers to switch from caged to free-range or organic eggs without increasing costs.

The move comes as the European Commission is expected to propose legislation to phase out cages in animal agriculture by 2027, a proposal that has gathered support from some heavyweights in industry for several years now. With an Open Wing Alliance May report unveiling cage-free egg production is proliferating.

Biobake EgR is currently only available in Europe.

High egg prices call for alternative solutions
Egg prices have gone up 18.5% on average in the EU from last year, as high energy and feed prices and the avian flu have battered the sector. At its peak, prices for large and medium eggs were up 69.3% across the bloc from November 2021 to November 2022. 

Eggflation is still painful for some EU countries’ consumers such as in Slovakia (68.7% year-on-year inflation), Croatia (50% inflation) and Hungary (46.1%). 

“The rising interest in egg-alternative solutions has been accelerated by geopolitical instability, egg-price volatility and the upcoming EU proposal on caged farming,” says Jonathan Doyle, business development lead, Enzymes at Kerry.

“Kerry’s Biobake EgR is a reliable and consistent egg-reduction performer that can enable the switch from caged to free-range or organic eggs in fine bakery recipes without increasing cost. It works by replacing up to 30% of the egg requirement while matching traditional baking performance measures such as specific volume.”

Consistent egg alternative
Doyle adds that consumers are also looking for more ethical label claims in egg-based products, such as “cage-free,” and that Biobake EgR allows bakers to achieve that goal cost-effectively while mitigating volatile egg prices through the switch to a more consistent, lower-cost, natural alternative.

He explains that eggs are a demanded ingredient for bakers because of their specific functional properties and unique contribution to finished product sensory attributes, such as texture, softness, crumb structure and taste. They also add such vital functions as binding, aeration, emulsification and color. 

Reducing egg content in recipes has historically been a challenging task, notes Kerry, because very few natural ingredients deliver the essential functional properties well enough to produce a high-quality finished product with optimal texture, volume and taste.

The company markets Biobake EgR as a “versatile, clean, cost-optimized” egg-replacement solution that delivers the functional properties of eggs in many different baking applications and with no change to final product quality. 

The product also delivers potential CO2 emission savings of up to 14% when a 30% egg reduction is achieved. Moreover, Kerry flags that “egg reduction is a strategy manufacturers use to reduce final product costs, improve margins and overall profits.”