CHICAGO — Current product development is entering a transformation. Everything from bread products to snack bars is being adapted to include more protein, and this is changing consumers’ expectations for their food.
This demand, however, is not without challenges.
R&D teams now have to consider how protein can align with clean-label positioning, overall nutritional value, and versatility across dayparts, while also bringing taste, processing, and source variability into the equation.
At the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)’s annual IFT FIRST event, held July 12-15 in Chicago, Lallemand Baking’s global sales director Bob Villeneuve spoke to this demand — and the company’s expertise in the protein field — in his Taste of Science session, “Lallemand Bio-Ingredients: Clean, Nutritious Protein for Modern Food Innovation.”
Villeneuve provided session attendees with application-focused examples illustrating how yeast proteins can be incorporated into products, and how protein can help commercial bakers meet their nutritional targets while maintaining formulation simplicity.
To start, he urged bakers to consider how yeast proteins can deliver flavor neutrality, digestibility and performance across sweet and savory applications.
“Within a yeast protein portfolio, you have all essential amino acids, and the ratios of those amino acids score incredibly well,” Villeneuve said. “[Yeast proteins] are very comparable to eggs and milk; they have a protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of one.”
While the average consumer isn’t aware that a PDCAAS score of one means the protein is complete, highly digestible and provides 100% or more of all essential amino acids, they still want to know they’re getting the benefit of that protein. They prioritize spending where they receive more than just satiety from their meals and snacks.
There are numerous applications in which commercial bakers can incorporate yeast proteins … snack bars, sweet and savory granola bites, breads, and crackers, just to name a few. The demand for it remains strong, especially as consumers become more educated about the ingredients in their food.
“It’s pretty exciting to be part of a real shift,” Villeneuve said. “I’ve been in the food industry my entire life, and it’s exciting to see this change of how we can deliver protein in a really small footprint.”
