16/10/08 Solae and Novozymes have announced their partnership to develop and market new soy proteins with distinctive functional and nutritional benefits. The collaboration combines each company's unique strengths to deliver innovation to consumers. Solae is experienced in developing, producing and marketing soy protein products, while Novozymes contributes enzyme technology to create next generation ingredients with novel benefits for food manufacturers and consumers.

“Using enzyme technology to modify soy has been looked at for over 30 years, where there has been a lot of work in the field trying of modifying soy for digestibility”, Peder Holk Nielsen, Executive Vice President and head of Novozymes' Enzyme Business told NutritionHorizon. “However, the exciting thing is that so many enzyme technologies have moved forward in the last 10 years that new developments have now become possible. It has now become financially viable to develop unique enzymes solutions for a small application market such as soy proteins for food”, he added.

“We are partnering with one of the largest and most innovative companies in this area to try to break new ground and work on taste profiles, digestibility and texture of soy proteins,” he added. Novozymes has been working with Solae in this area for 3 years and the first products to come out of the partnership are expected towards the end of this year.

Soy proteins are added to a wide range of food products such as infant formulas, meal replacement drinks, sports bars and beverages.  As well as increasing the nutritional value of the food, the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Joint Health Claims Initiative in the United Kingdom, among other regulatory bodies, have established that adding soy proteins to food reduces cholesterol levels, thereby lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.Novozymes is the world leader in industrial enzymes, with about a quarter of their business coming in the food sector. “The most significant application areas for us are bakery and brewing and this new area of soy,” said Holk Nielsen.

Holk Nielsen said that the company, which continues to invest 13% of its turnover in R&D is also working a lot in the brewing sector, where malt can be replaced by enzymes. “Malt is becoming more expensive and harder to get hold of . Higher oil prices are also affecting malt prices and replacing malt with enzymes is also an extremely good deal in terms of lowering your carbon footprint,” he explained.

Novozymes enjoys a similar partnership to the one with Solae in the dairy sector, where it is working with Chr. Hansen on enzymes for dairy.

by Robin Wyers