Clean label ingredients

There is a consumer trend in food towards healthy and “natural” ingredients. This means that food companies are constantly looking for new healthy ingredients and ways to replace chemically produced ingredients by natural ones. Bacteria are able to produce a lot of these natural “clean label” ingredients, simply by fermentation.

Fermentation route
“It’s amazing what microorganisms can do,” explains Lucie Hazelwood, project manager at NIZO food research, “but you have to discover it!” NIZO’s scientists have therefore developed a number of fast ways to discover the potential of microorganisms. “We are able to screen the functionality of microorganisms within a food matrix at micro-scale, and we have developed a metabolic model of microorganisms (Sympheny) that enables us to predict yields of metabolites that can be used as ingredients, under different fermentation conditions.”

“Green” ingredients
"These screening tools have already resulted in the identification of bacteria that produce “green” ingredients like folic acid and vitamin B12 during yoghurt fermentation, bacteria that are able to produce sweeteners to replace sugar and bacteria that possess highly desired flavour profiles” Lucie continues, “You get what you screen for, and in this case it is bacteria that produce “green” and “clean label” ingredients!”

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