Omya: holistic solutions with versatile benefits

Published: 6-Dec-2017

FiE 2017: multifunctional calcium carbonate particles advance processing and provide nutritional benefits

At this year’s FiE, Omya presented its range of high purity calcium carbonates — bundled under the brand Omya Calcipur — in addition to specialty ingredients from its distribution portfolio.

Used in combination, these products enable complete solutions to come quickly to market and satisfy the latest consumer trends.

Following the theme “The future stays natural,” the Omya experts demonstrated some of the multiple technical and health-enforcing benefits of their natural mineral particles by serving samples of calcium-enriched drinks and sugar-reduced cookies.

Omya Calcipur is a range of high purity natural calcium carbonate products suitable for calcium fortification as well as for technical enhancements.

Thanks to its superior qualities, Calcipur can be used as a white pigment, a bulk provider, an extrusion aid and an anticaking agent, as well as to improve all sorts of formulations — from savoury to dairy, beverage and confectionery produce right up to supplements and nutraceuticals.

To bring these multiple benefits to life at FiE, Omya presented samples of cookies and plant-based drinks. Vegan beverages made with soy, rice, oat or almond and enriched with Omya Calcipur provide a calcium content that’s equivalent to cows’ milk.

They combine indulgence with an optimised nutritional profile. Thanks to its high elemental calcium content of approximately 40%, Calcipur is one of the most concentrated sources of calcium on the market. This makes it possible to use up to five times less Calcipur than other available technical solutions while achieving the same calcium dose.

To attain a pleasant mouthfeel, getting the particle size and surface structure right is critical. This also ensures stability and keeps sedimentation rates as low as possible. Additionally, stabilisers may help to improve viscosity and control sedimentation.

To illustrate some of the technical advantages of Calcipur, the cookies were made with a reduced sugar icing that not only contained 35% fewer calories than regular icing but, thanks to Calcipur, also speeds up drying times of the coating.

As well as replacing sugar, Calcipur is an ideal calorie-free bulking agent that provides whiteness, opacity and texture, all of which are of major importance for icings and coatings.

Calcipur can also be used to substitute some of the flour in dough. Supporting the effects of baking powder, it facilitates the formation and homogenous distribution of fine gas bubbles, which influences the dough’s expansion and texture. Additionally, Calcipur helps to reduce the formation of acrylamide during the process of baking.

To ensure that manufacturers are able to react quickly to newly emerging consumer demands, Omya is also the holder of a distribution portfolio that includes a wide range of specialty ingredients and additives such as flavour enhancers, natural food colours, antioxidants, sweeteners, preservatives, acidity regulators, filling agents and vitamins.

Together, Omya Calcipur and the ingredients from this distribution portfolio are a perfect match that enable the company to develop holistic solutions that fit all kinds of market trends, even including pet food applications.

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