Problem: We want to incorporate omega-3 healthfulness in our products, but we don’t want to affect flavor.
Solution: Focused research on bakery applications for marine omega-3s has yielded results that remove the flavor barrier.
How has TINE EPADHA approached the flavor issue?
People are concerned with health, and according to most consumer trend analyses, they are actively seeking healthful products. Still, nobody wants to sacrifice flavor. TINE realized that a healthy product shouldn’t have to taste bad.
TINE understands that flavor is the biggest concern, and the company does not want its ingredients to be used in products that taste bad. This is why the company developed a marine omega-3 oil specifically for use in bakery products. TINE understands that it is challenging to make good bakery products with a consistent taste, and that it is challenging to deliver the same good-tasting product from several production runs every day.
When developing TINE EPADHA 2200 Omega-3 Oil for use in bakery products, the company had to consider the day-to-day life in a bakery. It established a team of baking industry experts when developing the new generation of marine omega-3 products for use in bakery products.
The sensory quality of the oil alone is not enough to convince the bakery industry to incorporate marine omega-3 into their products. Bakeries have to consider how their staff will be able to handle this ingredient in hectic production and trust that the end product tastes exactly the same as their customers have come to expect. About 50 companies are now using TINE EPADHA 2200 Omega-3 Oil in their daily production, and that number is growing.
What challenges do we face when including omega-3s in bakery products?
It’s easy to deliver an omega-3 ingredient that can be incorporated in bakery products. It’s not so easy to deliver a cost-efficient marine omega-3 ingredient that can be incorporated into bakery products, giving a meaning full amount of EPA & DHA per serving, without influencing the taste. TINE EPADHA can help with that.
Where are marine omega-3s used today and how much EPA and DHA can be delivered in one serving of bread or other bakery products?
Our customers are located in Europe, Asia and in North America. They use TINE EPADHA 2200 omega-3 oil in bakery products, mainly bread. The content of EPA and DHA varies between 50-150 mg per 50 g serving. In the U.S., most companies using other suppliers than TINE EPADHA add around 32 mg EPA and DHA, due to the cost of the ingredients and challenges with the taste. We work closely with our customers to understand their challenges, so we also can reduce the product development time. There are many companies that underestimate consumer awareness of the health benefits of marine omega-3 and these companies often take a shortcut by offering vegetable sources of omega-3. This is a short-term solution, and our experience in other markets is that media will discover that these types of products do not deliver the benefits that the consumers are expecting from omega-3 products.
A bakery product claiming to be rich in omega-3s must deliver a meaningful amount of EPA and DHA. Most of our customers deliver around 25-50 percent of the recommended daily dosage (ISSFAL: 500 mg EPA & DHA per day) in one serving of a bakery product.
Contact TINE EPADHA via www.epadha.com or email Espen Thomassen at espen.thomassen@tine.no.
