PASADENA, CA – As bakers, we could easily imagine why going clean label makes perfect sense, since bakeries and ingredient manufacturers/suppliers want to give US consumers the pure, wholesome breads they crave. However, once it’s time to consider how best to do it, well, that’s when clean label could become a bit of a challenge.
“Choosing the right company to work with; the process of recipe optimization; and training personnel on how best to use clean label ingredients with existing machinery and production lines” are three hurdles that commercial bakeries must clear on the road to Clean Label, says Michael Heimink, Technical Application Manager for Bellarise®.
Every ingredient supplier is different, so when deciding on one, bakeries need to know how far a supplier is willing to go to help when a challenge arises. According to Heimink, “Many ingredient suppliers out there don’t always offer personalized customer support or R&D, unless the potential customer represents a large opportunity from the beginning… As was said to me early in my career, ‘Baking is an exact science with 1000 variables,’ so it’s our responsibility as ingredient suppliers to help customers of all sizes solve for those variables and help them grow.” Measuring how well an ingredient performs in ideal settings is the tip of the iceberg; a conscientious ingredient supplier always accounts for commercial bakeries’ most nuanced systems, environmental variables, and unique methods when formulating custom solutions, and provides personalized support from pre-sales all the way through to tech support and troubleshooting to ensure a customer’s long-term success.
Heimink adds that one way to know if you’ve chosen the right company is by grading their availability and willingness to help you with a vital step in transitioning to clean label: recipe optimization. It comes down to accountability. “When replacing a chemical ingredient, adjustments to the formula are needed to ensure that the rest of the recipe supports the new clean label ingredient, and vice versa. A higher standard of care is crucial, because clean label ingredients almost never work the same as the ones they replace.” It’s really a painstaking process that could involve solving for “1000 variables,” as Heimink mentions above, including time (i.e. when the clean label baking ingredient starts working) and product quality (i.e. a clean label bread’s volume or crumb structure given a clean label ingredient’s use rate), among others. A baking ingredient supplier’s expertise plays a vital role in this aspect of going clean label, but their passion for your business and love for all things baking will determine how quickly and thoroughly they deliver an optimized clean label, non-GMO, or organic bread recipe.
“Thirdly,” adds Heimink, “training bakery personnel on how to use clean label ingredients on production lines designed to work with older, chemical ingredients is paramount. Overall, for commercial bakeries, going clean label is seldom ever a plug-and-play process, so our having a strong relationship with plant personnel, and learning their process, is crucial to our customers’ success.” Heimink emphasizes that letting bakery personnel know what to expect from a line producing clean label breads, and how to anticipate any variables in production stemming from the use of clean label ingredients, optimizes efficiency and maximizes results while keeping costs down. Even the degree to which a particular production line is automated/mechanized, and how much of it is manual, can determine how subtle or drastic changes in quality or efficiency could be when clean label ingredients are adopted. Mastering a clean label ingredient’s behavior in unique production systems is essential to dialing in optimized recipes that help bakeries maximize customer satisfaction.
All in all, the concept of “clean label” has a myriad of moving parts. By choosing an ingredient supplier/manufacturer dedicated to your long-term success, ensuring that you have the right partners optimizing your recipes for clean label applications, and preparing your production teams and systems for clean label baking, you’re off to a strong start with your clean label program.
Part of our commitment to providing unparalleled customer service is being ready to help bakers bake the best clean label, non-GMO, and organic breads in the world. Whether that involves providing active support in the lab and during line trials, or taking a phone call at any time, we take our customers seriously and rise to a higher standard for their success. Contact us and let our Product Development Department know about your clean label goals and challenges. We would gladly partner with you to find the right solutions and support your bakery’s efforts to craft the very best clean label breads.
Source: Bellarise
