As more food and beverage manufacturers embrace the ethical sourcing movement, two major ingredients suppliers discuss their latest sustainability strategies.
NATUREX: Beyond palm oil
Ethical sourcing is the new buzzword, born out of the consumer backlash against unsustainable products. The movement is gathering pace as ethically minded food manufacturers seek out suppliers whose products are created in fair trade conditions and manufactured in an environmentally friendly way.
Deforestation fuelled by the demand for palm oil has in particular raised sustainability concerns in consumers’ minds, according to Naturex, a company that makes natural specialty ingredients derived from plant sources.
Food manufacturers are in turn seeking out ingredients that are entirely palm-free, and in response, Naturex has embarked on a major mission to reformulate the ingredients that it makes that contain palm oil.
Amandine De Santi, a business manager at Naturex, told Food & Drink Business that although this posed numerous technical challenges, the company was committed to providing ingredients that are not associated with deforestation.
Last year, for instance, the company introduced a new type of glycerin that is derived from rapeseed rather than palm for use in all of its colour formulations, and Naturex now offers a large range of natural, palm-free colours.
This range is a good compromise between current technical feasibility and consumer expectations for palm-free products, according to the company.
“Naturex’s R&D team has successfully replaced the palm-derived ingredients with non-palm source materials wherever possible,” De Santi says. “Regarding ingredients for which non-palm based alternatives are not yet commercially available, we have launched a global initiative that relies on our sourcing, quality and R&D capabilities.”
Naturex also participates in the Green Palm program. Since the beginning of February, Naturex has bought enough Green Palm certificates to cover 100 per cent of the volume of palm oil-derived ingredients used in its products. These certificates are used to support sustainable palm oil production until the relevant supply chains become available.
And last month, Naturex launched a comprehensive sustainability program to cover every aspect of its activities, with the aim of developing innovative ingredients that combine performance with sustainability.
The ultimate goal is to switch to fully sustainable RSPO-certified palm oil in its ingredients by 2015, Serge Sabrier, chairman of Naturex’s sustainability committee, says.
“Sustainable practices are not optional for our industry,” Sabrier says. “Naturex is very well-positioned to drive improvements in ethical and responsible business practices across the entire value chain. It is both an opportunity and a responsibility for us to enhance our commitments in this field.”
DSM: GREEN Yeast extract
DSM Food Specialties has developed a new low-salt yeast extract with a strong savoury taste that is made with less sugar and energy and therefore has a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
The use of traditional low-salt basic yeast extracts in the global savoury market currently accounts for approximately 583kt CO2 emissions, according to DSM.
By instead using its new Multirome LS yeast extract, food manufacturers around the world could reduce the CO2 footprint of the yeast extracts they use by 81 per cent, a reduction that would be equivalent to almost 85,000 car trips around the world or the annual footprint of almost 53,000 people in Europe, the company says.
These calculations are based on replacing all of the traditional low-salt basic yeast extracts currently used in savoury products such as soups, ready meals, cured meats, sauces and dressings with DSM’s more concentrated alternative.
DSM says the unique enzyme technology used in Multirome LS generates 30 per cent more taste components than basic yeast extracts despite using the same amount of raw materials.
“This means the savoury market could use two thirds less yeast extract in their product with the same taste impact,” a DSM spokesperson says.
“That’s equivalent to using only 28kt of Multirome LS compared to the total of 87kt of basic yeast extracts currently used annually in the market.”
According to DSM, because of its efficiency, savoury food producers can also save up to 50 per cent on their yeast extract costs without compromising on the quality of products.
This product launch ties in with a broader strategy to enable its customers to do more with less, and to help the food and beverage industry create more opportunities from the word’s resources, the company says.
DSM’s savoury business has been independently recognised as meeting the standards
of the Ethical Trading Initiative – also called the SEDEX SMETA-4 pillar audit – that investigates labour, health and safety environmental and business integrity within the company worldwide.
The required standards include water, energy and resource conservation, as well as transparency with regard to business ethics.
“DSM will be encouraging its own suppliers to live up to the same values and norms and publish its audit results via the SEDEX platform,” the company says.
