Italian firm offers tailor-made ingredient solution
food formulations based on stabilisers, hydrocolloids and
emulsifiers.
The company, Guisto Faravelli, says that the systems are designed to help food makers achieve ideal texture and stability in finished products such as ice cream, confectionery and sauces.
"The added value of this new service is custom tailored formulation," said the company.
"A skilled R&D team give customers the opportunity to achieve the most suitable system for the specific requirements."
Hydrocolloids are generically polysaccarides that can come from plants - locust bean gum, tara gum, guar gum, pectin, starches - seaweed, synthesis or biosynthesis - xanthan gum, gellan gum. Rising energy and transport costs have driven up hydrocolloid prices in recent months, but food makers can still achieve benefits if the product is effective.
Product development within the hydrocolloid sector is especially interesting because the products themselves cannot be chemically changed - this would require a huge amount of regulation. Instead, firms such as Guisto Faravelli have to discover innovative ways of adding value to their products, in order to stop commoditisation.
The industry certainly needs to ensure that any cost rise within such a highly competitive industry is met with necessary demand. Product development is one way of ensuring that hydrocolloids remain an innovative component of food formulation, especially with energy costs showing little sign of declining.
Guisto Faravelli clearly believes that its blend of hydrocolloids, stabilisers and emulsifiers offer food makers a unique means of precisely defining texture, viscosity and mouth feel of various finished products. The Italian firm says it can also offer food makers modern and well-equipped laboratories to analyse and test raw materials and finished products, along with pilot plants for small-scale productions and trial lots.
Hydrocolloids are viewed as specialities by some and commodities by others. This divergence of opinion is the theme of the next International Conference on Food Hydrocolloids, which will be held in April 2006 in San Diego, US.
