FRANCE – Limagrain Ingredients, a European specialist in functional flours, has inaugurated a new US$10.6 million production line on its site in Arques, Northern France.
With the new extended production line, the company says it will be able to produce almost 15,000 metric tons of functional flours across Europe.
Functional flours are the result of a synergy between cereal expertise, via varietal selection, and the expertise of hydro-thermal processes.
Limagrain has a 100 percent clean label range which serves as an alternative to thickeners and starches.
Through its products, the company helps bring a clean label texture to ready meals, soups, bread, pastries, and dairy products with a simple ‘flour’ declaration.
Apart from an increased capacity, Limagrain Ingredients says that the new industrial line will help it to achieve a level of quality, consistency, and safety that meets today’s highest expectations in the food industry.
Pauline Arramy, Marketing Manager at Limagrain noted that consumers today are asking for more transparent and clean label ingredients lists, with just a few and known ingredients.
Functional flours according to Arramy are a key ingredient for clean label ingredient lists as they impart food texture and flowability and also result in process improvement.
“This allows formulators to replace starch in the final product with a natural flour labeled as ‘flour,’” says Arramy.
Limagrain aims to meet industry expectations, particularly with gluten-free and allergen-free ingredients, with optimum microbiological characteristics and ultra-controlled particle size.
With the new production line, Limagrain Ingredients says it will be able to further ramp up its functional flours activity, reaching an annual volume of 45,000 metric tons annually.
This it says will provide support for the company’s European industrial customers in their progress, particularly in terms of clean label initiatives.
Despite of their importance in food processing, functional flours are not yet very well known and people are yet to appreciate the benefits they can bring in finished products, according to Arramy.
Arramy is however confident that the growing demand for clean label foods in Europe provides the functional flours industry with a great potential for growth in the near future.
“Indeed, transparency and fewer ingredient lists are requested more frequently. The clean label trend is part of our strategy as we expect that this trend will still increase in the coming years,” Arramy said.
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