ISRAEL – Equinom, a seed-breeding technology company, has opened a new research and development (R&D) centre in Givat Brenner, Israel, that will house all vital departments together – biochemistry, applications, sensory, and breeding and will enhance its production ability.

Equinom is a tech start-up that uses computerised breeding technology to provide ‘optimised’ seeds to food and ingredient firms in the food industry.

The new center will enable these departments to work and communicate synergistically throughout the course of seed breeding and development, resulting in a more efficient and more accurate process. The site will include a biochemistry lab, food application lab, and a sensory lab.

“Introducing the e-nose lets us target desirable traits more accurately and design seeds that produce palate-pleasing products. As a bonus, it also reduces the need for maskers to block unpleasant flavor notes,” Gil Shalev, CEO of Equinom, said.

“Equinom’s seeds can potentially reduce production cost by almost 40% via fewer ingredients, lower price, reduced need for flavour enhancers, and encouraging strong consumer adoption.”

Itay Dana – vice-president of marketing, Equinom

Equinom claims that this technology, together with an in-house internal sensory panel, also drives the enhancement of desirable flavours as the company can trace the genetic background of good flavours, and merge those genetic traits into breeding algorithms in a way that the resulting taste will be an intrinsic trait in the seed’s breeding programmes.

“Consumers are now demanding clean-label plant-based products. By discovering appealing textures starting at a seed level for, as an example, meat analogues, we can dramatically reduce the need for extensive processing,” Itay Dana, vice-president of marketing at Equinom, said.

“This means food manufacturers are better able to provide consumer products with cleaner — and clearer — labels. Equinom’s seeds can potentially reduce production cost by almost 40% via fewer ingredients, lower price, reduced need for flavour enhancers, and encouraging strong consumer adoption.”

According to Equinom, the new sensory lab includes organoleptic tools which can help to design tastier food products. By applying an ‘electronic nose’ (“e-nose”), Equinom can analyse seeds for thousands of taste compounds, reducing off flavours.

The new center, located in the agriculturally rich center of Israel, provides end-to-end research and development capabilities to accelerate Equinom’s efforts to develop the next generation of its non-GMO Smarter Seeds boasting exceptional characteristics.

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