Five vegan foods set to change the freeze dried ingredients market
According to the Vegan Society, the number of vegans in the UK has quadrupled since 2014 to 600,000 and forecast to make up a quarter of the population by 2025.
These consumers are demanding healthy, originally sourced food ingredients which are also full of taste and nutrition.
However, there is scepticism about how ethical many vegan products are. Lloyd’s Register research revealed that one in five UK consumers declared themselves ‘not confident at all’ or ‘very suspicious’ that vegan products do not contain any meat. At European Freeze Dry, all our ingredients are natural, with only the water removed.
We continue to see growing demand for vegan ingredients, to be used in new products or food production processes, with five new ingredients showing a growth in popularity:
- Turtle beans
- Diced sweet potato
- Black-eyed beans
- Diced beetroot
- Caramelised onion
Working closely with our customers, our R&D team is continually looking at new products for this market, and to support our new product development we conduct market research, stage trials and hold taste sessions.
Hand in glove with this, we are working with customers to support their environmental and sustainability policies. They want less time dealing with waste, a reduced carbon footprint and a process that adds value to their green credentials long term.
Our freeze drying technology supports this approach, and the results are prolonged shelf-life of fresh products, reduced food waste, with the structure of the food retained along with the flavour and nutritional value. This means they are ready to be used as ingredients in a range of applications be it sweet or savoury.
With the support of our science and technology, our expertise and R&D, we work in pursuit of excellence with our customers to develop the product range for their growing offer in vegan food with the quality the consumer expects.
