Creamy, clean label yoghurts without the fat, promises Avebe

Etenia 457 is a potato-based specialty starch that is designed to add creaminess to yoghurts without adding off-putting names to the ingredients list. In the EU the ingredient can be labelled simply as ‘starch’.

Recent work ​

The Etenia range of starches was originally launched back in 2007 but since then Avebe has been working on different food applications.

Wouter Berendsen, market development manager at the Dutch based starch company, said that for Etenia 457, the company has been working in the lab to better understand how the ingredient works in yoghurts so as to improve its advice to customers.

Berendsen told this publication: “We have benchmarked ETENIA 457 versus competitive ingredients currently on the market, investigating all relevant technological and organoleptical parameters.”​

​

Product features ​

Giving an overview of its features, Berendsen said the starch can be used as an alternative to gelatine to get the creaminess of a full fat yoghurt in a low fat or fat-free product. And in high fat yoghurt types, he said Etenia 457 can help bring down fat levels and reduce costs.

In addition, the market development manager said the ingredient does not behave like a typical starch in that it can withstand processing conditions that destroy other starches. It is cold-soluble, stable at low-pH and resists shearing and heat.

Avebe has developed its own sample products containing Etenia 457 for fat-free, low-fat as well as high fat yoghurts. It has also made its first market introductions in the US, France and Africa.

Other products in the Etenia range are targeted at different segments of the food industry including bakery, low fat spreads, and confectionary.