The ingredients, named CLARIA Instant 340 and 360, have been launched globally and make it easier for manufacturers to ‘clean up’ their food labels because they closely match the performance of traditional instant modified food starches, the specialty ingredient supplier said.
The instant starches resemble Tate & Lyle’s other Claria products in terms of taste and colour which are both “clean and neutral”, it said.
They are also tolerant to a number of harsh processing conditions, retaining their functionality throughout various temperatures, acidity and shear processing conditions, making them ideal for foods such as salad dressings, instant gravies, instant soups and pastry fillings and creams.
Principal scientist at Tate & Lyle Jim Smoot said: “We developed the Claria Instant line of starches to deliver on several attributes, including process tolerance for use in demanding applications, rapid viscosity build for soups and gravies, and boil-out prevention characteristics for fillings."
“It also had to be as easy to use as comparable modified starches, while possessing the required white colour and clean flavour profile consistent with our other Claria starches. We are excited to say that our new Claria Instant starches deliver on that promise.”
By providing immediate viscosity in high-solid systems, they are ideal for applications such as fruit fillings as well as easily building texture in cold-processed applications such as salad dressings.
The instant starches also compare well to traditional modified starches for bake stability control, the supplier said, which means manufacturers can easily respond to growing consumer demands for clean and clear ingredient lists, particularly within baked goods.
According to 2016 data from market research company Innova, the bakery category was number one for clean label claims, with one in every five clean-label launches across all global regions a baked good.
The Claria range was launched in 2014 and contains one tapioca-based starch called Claria Bliss as well as three corn-based, functional starches: Claria Essential, which is aimed at products that require only mild processing such as soups; Claria Plus is for foods that require techniques such as a retort process ( low pH sauce, for instance); and Claria Elite is for products that have undergone UHT or high-pressure homogenisation, such as some yoghurts.