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"It comes out of the oven fine, but the next day it's like a rock!" Clients often ask what clean label options are available to extend their bakery products shelf life typically focuses on stalling and mold resistance. Grocery store breads utilize “secret” ingredients such as enzymes that are readily apparent when you read the ingredient declaration, but their function is somewhat mysterious to most consumers. At a grocery store you can buy all the ingredients to bake bread, or you can buy extended shelf life bread, but you can’t buy the ingredients to make extended shelf life bread at...

50% of consumers avoid buying a product because of specific ingredients, and 25% avoid products that use the word "preservative" (1). Food manufacturers utilize a range of preservatives to ensure products maintain their key quality attributes such as color, flavor, texture, and most importantly food safety. Synthetic preservatives like nitrates/ nitrites or sodium benzoate were originally sourced from natural botanicals (plants) like celery seed and spices to guard against spoilage. Most retailers and consumers appreciate the convenience and even the flavor of some of these preservative ingredients, there are consumer-driven asks to adopt more "natural" options. The grocery retailer Whole...

The great reverence and aspiration behind our grandparents’ traditional baking recipes is the aura of wholesome natural ingredients. Realistically, I don’t believe my parents or grandparents had any qualms about using Crisco or any number of synthetic ingredients in their baking if they were readily available. Remember this is back when trans fats were still generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the US Food & Drug Administration?  Continuing the story from clean label bakery texture improvers must include the second great culprit of baking: MOLD! Clean label options exist for bakery products to replace highly functional ingredients like propionates and...

Would lactic acid be a better solution to help replace vinegar or citric acid in your candy, sauce, or beverage, achieve the a distinctive flavor, or reduce shelf life limiting stickiness?

Natural fermentation can be challenging to control consistently, would standardized lactic acid be a good alternative for preservation? What about achieving consistent pH & microbial control?

We can guide you to use the right acidifiers for your application.