Ronald Visschers on: the food of the future

Sustainability issues, critical consumers and dynamic markets call for food-industry innovations. Manufacturers want to be able to take new or improved products to market faster and more efficiently. Ronald Visschers, Principal Consultant at TNO, helps food manufacturing companies to innovate their products in such a way that they meet today’s demands.

‘Now it’s time to look at the big picture and apply the findings in practice to create an actual product. And that remains challenging’

‘Today’s demands’ – what are the most important ones for food products?

“It’s actually about meeting ‘tomorrow’s demands’,” laughs Ronald. “We try to anticipate what is likely to happen in the near future: in which directions are the industry and society moving, and what is possible in terms of innovations? TNO helps companies who are keen to innovate by providing practical and fundamental knowledge, technologies and facilities. Ten years ago, the industry was striving to optimally stabilise products and give them a safe best-before date. Nowadays, the focus is on replacing colourings, aromas, flavourings and stabilising agents with ‘clean’ alternatives. Furthermore, manufacturers want to increase the number of healthy components in their products. The growth of ‘clean labels’ is largely driven by the changing consumer demand.”

“Simultaneously, there is a demand for a healthy product composition – the reformulation of foodstuffs,” continues Ronald. “Reformulation is one way of contributing to a healthier diet. Specific characteristics such as taste, texture and shelf life should not be substantially altered by reformulation. The primary objective is to reduce the levels of salt, sugar and fat, and to preserve and/or add fibre. A common interest is also a factor here; the trend is being significantly steered by the government.”

That would seem to pose a tricky dilemma. Do companies find themselves torn between the desire to add ingredients and the desire to remove them?

“Yes, there is an element of tension involved, but it’s not as bad as it seems. The aim in both cases is to make the product healthier: extra vitamins and fibre are good for the consumer, and so too is omitting artificial aromas and flavour enhancers and reducing the amounts of sugar, salt and fat. They are two sides of the same coin.”  

And yet consumers appear to be ignoring products with lower levels of salt or fat. That makes it difficult for manufacturers to comply with governmental targets. What’s your take on that?

“We try to remove obstacles to innovation within the food industry by providing insight into the impact of reformulation on consumer acceptance. Manufacturers have a strong need for that. How can reformulated products be marketed successfully? When are they accepted by consumers? That’s being researched in the Cluster Project on Multiple Reformulation*. Flavour plays an important role in acceptance but the key trends are interrelated; aspects such as health, price and sustainability are also being included in this study. We are collaborating with DLO-FBR on this part of the study.”

What is the major research challenge at the moment?

“The rapidly increasing demand for protein will result in a global nutritional protein shortage in the future, that much is certain, so something must be done to address that. Sustainability is another topic which is high on the agenda globally. Through the application of new production and modification technologies, TNO is contributing to the development of ingredients which are greener, cleaner and healthier than the ones currently available on the market. I find it rewarding to be playing a part in that quest.”

What are you focused on right now?

“At the moment, we are primarily looking for proteins which are obtained from previously untapped sources. We are currently studying Rubisco, i.e. ribulose-1,5-bsiphosphate carboxylase oxygenase, which is an enzyme in photosynthesis. It reacts with CO2 so that it can be converted into sugar. We are researching not only how we can obtain this enzyme efficiently from algae and green leaves, but also how we can upgrade its quality. Rubisco is very suitable for human consumption because it contains all the essential amino acids the body needs. It has much more potential than, for example, soy proteins which have been ultra-stabilised by nature itself and are intrinsically virtually insoluble, making it difficult for the food industry to use them in other ways. In effect, you’re battling to reverse hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Rubisco doesn’t have that disadvantage. In collaboration with the Dutch provinces of Drenthe and Groningen, and the companies ProLeaf and Cosun, we have worked on a project to extract Rubisco from sugar beet leaves. The initial results are very promising. We are also conducting research into algae as a source of Rubisco. Algae are made up of valuable nutritional ingredients, have a very rapid growth rate and can be cultivated on barren land, which is why algae are regarded as the key agricultural crop of the future. However, it’s not easy to extract and successfully market valuable ingredients obtained from algae. We are now choosing a completely different approach.”

‘It’s not easy to extract and successfully market valuable ingredients obtained from algae’

Where are the bottlenecks? And how are you tackling them?

“The tricky thing is that even if you do manage to find a ‘new’ protein, you don’t yet have a manufacturing chain that can use it. So the current challenge is to bring together the relevant chain at an early stage; the R&D has to involve scientists, manufacturers and customers alike. GAIA is a collaborative venture between algae producers and end users. Together, they are working hard to make the application of algae ingredients feasible; the VALORIE (Versatile ALgae On-site Raw Ingredient Extractor) mobile algae refinery was opened last year and is now operational. There, we are working on both food and non-food applications, with the latter including water-based paint – that also needs stabilisers. If you consider the price per kilo of paint: you would never get anywhere near that price with food, which is pretty strange, when you think about it...but I digress. We want to explore together how we can obtain as many ingredients as possible from algae and optimally valorise all those fibres, colourings and such like in the chain. Thanks to the consortium, we now have a good business model. By the way, that’s another trend in the sector: a shift away from a closed-loop supply chain system. There needs to be much more collaboration.”

‘A shift away from a closed-loop supply chain system. There needs to be much more collaboration’

What about the longer-term future – where are food and ingredients heading?

Everything is increasingly interlinked: sustainability and food safety, tasty and healthy, technology and craftsmanship. One thing that will definitely receive more attention is food for the elderly, which is a clear convergence of functionality and quality. Questions to consider include ‘Which physical changes does ageing bring about?’, ‘How do those changes translate into food choices?’, and ‘Which nutrients do elderly people need to stay healthy?’. For example, TNO is also working on a 3D printer to make puréed food more appealing to patients who have difficulties chewing and swallowing.  At the moment, such patients often receive a kind of milkshake or mashed food, which isn’t very appetising, with the result that they eat even less and risk becoming undernourished. Puréed broccoli shaped into broccoli florets could help to change that by making food enjoyable again. Ideally, the printers would be able to make personalised meals – adding extra calcium, certain vitamins, calories, you name it.
The pace of change is very fast, and there are endless opportunities to personalise a diet at the ingredient level. We already have wristbands which precisely monitor your level of activity and there are apps which tell you which foodstuffs or ingredients you need as a result.”

Where does your passion lie?

“In better understanding how food works. I’m a scientist and ideally I’d like to understand everything, right down to the finest detail. But at a certain point you have to stop analysing and curb the urge to go even deeper. That’s when I have to say to myself: ‘OK, I know enough. Now it’s time to look at the big picture and apply the findings in practice to create an actual product. And that remains challenging.”

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* The Cluster Project on Multiple Reformulation falls under TNO’s EL&Ico agreement and is being executed by a consortium of a number of food/ingredients manufacturers, TNO and Wageningen UR.