Galactic eyes fermented ingredient appeal for clean, sweet bakery

Global natural ingredient player Galactic has unveiled its latest ingredient, Galimax Flavor K-10, which the company believes will provide subtle flavors to sweet baked goods without compromising on quality or shelf life.

As it is made from fermented, all-natural ingredients, Galactic says that K-10’s “label-friendliness” will appeal to both manufacturers and consumers.

The slow fermentation of sugar produces K-10. As a purely natural ingredient, K-10 enables manufacturers to make on-pack claims such as “with 100% natural ingredients.”.

“Consumers are fed up with complicated labels and seeing synthetic ingredients or ingredients they don’t understand on their foods’ ingredient list,” Eliza Frunză, communications manager at Galactic, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“Therefore they seek more naturalness in their food. A claim like ‘100% natural ingredients’ is a simple statement and a very understandable way for a food manufacturer to communicate the natural sources used to manufacture the food,” she continues.

Frunză is keen to stress that Galactic is aware of the demands of modern consumers.

“‘Natural’ is also connected with eco-friendliness, according to 52% of Generation Z consumers.”

“The process of fermentation uses only renewable raw materials to ensure a sustainable sourcing. This process generates Galimax Flavor K-10 in a fully natural way, via a process that has been around since Egyptian times,” she concludes.

“We’re always looking to bring the solutions to the food industry that manufacturers globally are looking for. It is still a challenge to combine naturalness, good taste and freshness throughout shelf life into one ingredient,” says Katrien Lambeens, group product manager at Galactic.

“With the support of the entire team of experts at Galactic we can add new solutions to our portfolio. We will continue to look into the market needs and use our expertise in natural fermentation ingredients to answer our customers’ needs.”

Galactic say its new K-10 ingredient is "label-friendly."

Consumers crave transparency

Ingredients that enable label-friendly claims are a natural draw for manufacturers as consumers become increasingly diligent in checking what products contain.

“Today’s consumers seek clear and transparent labels with natural ingredients. This trend has become a game changer as it is hard to combine naturalness, freshness and high quality in today’s food products,” underscores Galactic.

This release comes as the Nutri-Score labeling system faces a call to action as D and E-labeled products are shown to be below the World Health Organization’s criteria for ultra-processed foods.

Similarly, mandatory carbon footprint labeling is gaining traction as part of consumer’s increasing demands for transparency on food labelling.

Despite these efforts, similar research shows that consumer expectations around seafood ecolabels are mixed, with many not understanding what an ecolabel means or represents fully.

Meanwhile, Kerry previously addressed the ongoing shift in regulatory norms for the sector by launching a digital tool to assist manufacturers in optimizing the nutritional profiles of products relative to current front-of-pack regulations.

Fermentation for greener recipes

Fermentation continues to gain ground as a process.

Targeting eco-labeling and on-package claims such as “100%-natural” has increased interest in NPD via fermentation processes.

With the bakery industry expanding and wanting to appeal to consumers’ demands for transparency, Galactic is hoping to champion this methodology.

“We apply the age-old process of fermentation to reach Galimax Flavor K-10. Taking sugar and non-GMO microorganisms, we have perfected the fermentation process,” says Frunză.

Precision fermentation is expected to take up a lot of space within that growing landscape, especially within the bakery space.

As a process capable of producing good flavors without compromising on shelf life or freshness, stakeholders are understandably beginning to pay a lot of attention to the potential this process holds for innovations in future baking ingredients.