Ingredion Calls Its New Process-Stable Rice Flours a Clean-Label First

Photo © iStockphoto.com/Alasdair Thomson

A new, multifunctional line of waxy rice flours meets increased consumer demand for clean-label flours and provides manufacturers with a clean-label flour that is highly process stable, says supplier Ingredion Inc. (Westchester, IL). The company is calling its new Homecraft Create rice flours an industry first, noting that it can create smooth, silky textures in clean-label and gluten-free products.

Ingredion says its proprietary consumer research on labeling preferences suggests that “rice flour” is one of the most accepted, common ingredients used in the food and beverage industry, and that consumers in the U.S. and Asia Pacific region, in particular, significantly prefer the “rice flour” label to other ingredients. Thus, it says, its goal was to develop a clean-label rice flour that delivers the functionality, tolerance, stability, and shelf life of non-clean label ingredients such as modified starches or ingredients requiring the use of hydrocolloids.

“Ingredion has been a pioneer in the clean-label movement and in understanding consumer attitudes and preferences towards specific ingredients and claims,” Daniel Haley, director of the global Wholesome Springboard, Ingredion, said in a press release. “The exciting development of Homecraft Create multifunctional rice flours, leveraging our recent investments in Asia-Pacific, reflects the continued commitment of researchers working in this area at our global network of Ingredion Idea Labs innovation centers.”

Angelina De Castro, senior marketing manager of Ingredion’s Wholesome Springboard, North America, elaborated: “Providing highly functional rice flours with added stability and enhanced texture allows our customers to design new products that are as close as possible to what consumers would expect in an authentic recipe.”

According to the company, applications testing has previously demonstrated rice flour’s ability to enhance formulations of baby foods, soups, dairy alternatives, fruit fillings, snack products, meats, batters, and ready meals, among others. Ingredion debuted the ingredient at June’s Institute of Food Technologists’ Annual Meeting and Food Expo in Las Vegas.

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