Tate & Lyle, a global leader in renewable ingredients, is to launch two new wheat protein isolates - MERIPRO 410 and MERIPRO 420. Used across a broad range of food products Meripro 410 brings functional benefits as an emulsifier and dough plasticizer, while Meripro 420 has unique emulsifying and foaming properties well-suited for desserts and confectionery. These ingredients, which will be available globally, are the first in a new range of wheat proteins developed using a new patent-protected form of wheat protein processing based on physical extraction from vital wheat gluten.

Meripro 410 and 420 can be used as alternative to animal derived ingredients (such as egg, milk and gelatine) and are suitable for consumers following vegetarian or halal diets and are certified kosher (parev). All products in the Meripro range are GM-Free and do not require an E-number declaration.

MERIPRO 410 can be used as an emulsifier across a broad food pH-range, making it suitable for use in products as varied as sauces and dressings and non-dairy whipped ‘cream’ toppings. Its high emulsifying capacity and emulsion texturizing power mean that manufacturers can create very stable emulsions at low-usage requirement.

Meripro 410 can help food manufacturers produce egg-yolk-free, hence cholesterol-free salad dressings.  It can also be used to create 100 per cent non-dairy whipped ‘cream’ without caseinates, helping reduce the impact of volatile commodity prices.

Used in non-dairy ‘cream’ applications it provides good whipability and firmness, while stabilising the foam during storage.  This means that it can create products that are cost-efficient and also suitable for consumers who wish to avoid dairy products, with Asia being a key market.

In addition to its great functionality as an emulsifier, Meripro 410 is an excellent dough plasticizer ideal for use in bakery, convenience food, pizza and snack food applications. One of Meripro 410’s strengths is that it can modify dough rheology without affecting the gluten network: incorporating Meripro 410 into a dough recipe softens the dough without inducing stickiness, allowing improved sheeting in products such as pizza dough and laminated products, while maintaining dough strength throughout the freeze-thaw process.

It can also bind four to five times its own weight in oil, making it ideal for food-service bakery and snacks.  Using Meripro 410 can extend a food-service product’s shelf life and make food appear more attractive by preventing oil-leakage onto packaging.  Again 410 can be used to offer cleaner ingredient declarations: made from wheat, it is a perfect match to bakery products, as opposed to other reducing agents like cysteine.

MERIPRO 420 can be used to emulsify, deliver mouthfeel, whipability or chewiness in whipped desserts, milk-shakes, egg-white-free mousses and gelatine-free aerated (chewy) confectionery.

Meripro 420 has already proved effective in the manufacture of chewy fruit flavoured confectionery, launched at Food Ingredients Europe in November. Replacing gelatine in confectionery not only ‘cleans up’ the ingredient declaration and takes out costs, with Meripro 420 it also simplifies the production process due to the protein’s heat stability and the fact that it can be added as a powder prior to cooking. Its visco-elasticity prevents breakage and gives chew to the final product. The protein also emulsifies the coconut fat in the recipe to provide stability and firmness.  Tate & Lyle hold the application patent for use in fruit-flavoured candies.

“These new wheat protein isolates are extremely flexible, functional ingredients,” explains Caroline Sanders, Product Manager, of Tate & Lyle.  “They combine top performance with cost-effectiveness. They will help food manufacturers achieve a wide variety of goals, from providing true non-dairy products to offering 100 per cent vegetarian confectionery that can reach a wider customer base.” 

Sanders adds, “Tate & Lyle’s European food and industrial ingredients division has a long history of innovation in wheat proteins, we were the first to pioneer the use of wheat proteins as functional food ingredient. This heritage is very much alive today and has led to the invention of the patent-protected manufacturing process that has helped us develop the Meripro 400 range.  We are proud of the research that has gone into the development of this product line – this is a real technological advance and is unique to Tate & Lyle.” 

About Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle is a world leading manufacturer of renewable food and industrial ingredients. It uses innovative technology to transform corn, wheat and sugar into value-added ingredients for customers in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, paper, packaging and building industries. The Company is a leader in cereal sweeteners and starches, sugar refining, value added food and industrial ingredients, and citric acid. Tate & Lyle is the world number-one in industrial starches and is the sole manufacturer of SPLENDA® Sucralose.

Headquartered in London, Tate & Lyle is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol TATE.L. In the US its ADRs trade under TATYY. The Company operates more than 60 production facilities in 28 countries, throughout Europe, the Americas and South East Asia. It employs 6,700 people in its subsidiaries with a further 4,500 employed in joint ventures. Sales in the year to 31 March 2005 totalled £3.3 billion. Additional information can be found on www.tateandlyle.com.

SPLENDA®is a trademark of McNeil Nutritionals, LLC