R&D

Scenes of the past? Mars claims it has eradicated need for cocoa bean fermentation. Photo credit: Susitainable Cocoa Initiative

Patent Watch

Has Mars found a way around cocoa bean fermentation?

By Oliver Nieburg

Mars has filed a patent for a method to process unfermented cocoa beans that it claims would maintain the final chocolate taste and allow for a more consistent flavor.

Givaudan said there was a global interest in developing umami taste with lower MSG content

Patent Watch

Givaudan files patent for MSG-free umami

By Kacey Culliney

Givaudan has developed a compound blend that creates an acceptable umami impression in food and beverages, enabling elimination or reduction of monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Mars claims solid plant fat holds the key to caramel water migration issues

Patent watch

Watertight idea? Mars files patent for multi-texture caramel

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

Mars has filed a patent for ‘multi-texture’ caramel products, using a method that prevents moisture migration from caramel to crispy components without the need for a fat-based moisture barrier.

Could improved cognition and metabolism be chocolate health claims of the future?

What will be the next cocoa health claim?

By Oliver Nieburg

‘Neuroprotective effects’ and ‘improved metabolism’ could be the next health claims for cocoa and dark chocolate after Barry Callebaut’s heart health win, according to a medical doctor.

Solving the unhealthy = tasty dilemma

Solving the unhealthy = tasty dilemma

By Maggie Hennessy

As the number of overweight and obese people worldwide continues to climb, policymakers and public health officials are scratching their heads over how to stimulate healthier food choices among consumers. 

Purdue study: Artificial dyes highest in beverages, cereal, candy

Purdue study: Artificial dyes highest in beverages, cereal, candy

By Maggie Hennessy

New research from Purdue University scientists has revealed the dye content of scores of packaged food products, some of which contain more than the 35 mg per serving that has been shown in certain trials to affect behavior among a small percentage of...

Julabo introduced a new generation of refrigerated and heating circulators this year

dispatches from Analytica 2014

Taking the temperature of quality control

By Joseph James Whitworth

Refrigerated and heating circulators are vital tools in quality control in the food industry, according to Julabo.  

Large-scale study to assess whether cocoa flavanol supplements benefit heart health. Photo Credit: Happy Days Photos and Art

Mars gears up for large-scale cocoa flavanol pill study

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

Chocolate giant Mars and the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute are readying themselves for a five-year research project into possible heart-health benefits of taking a daily flavanol-rich capsule. 

The risk of dying from heart disease increased exponentially with the amount of added sugars consumed

Sugar consumption linked to heart disease death risk

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

Excessive consumption of added sugars in drinks, snacks and sweets is associated with an increased risk of dying from heart disease, according to a major US review published in JAMA Internal Medicine.