Motif FoodWorks to improve fat performance in plant based foods

For Better Taste, Texture and Appearance

US based Motif FoodWorks, the ingredient innovation company making plant-based food better tasting and more nutritious, has announced an exclusive research collaboration and license option with the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, and Dr. Alejandro Marangoni, Tier I Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Aging at Guelph and founder of Coasun, Inc.

Under this collaboration, Motif will evaluate novel technologies for formulating lipids and fiber-forming ingredients in plant-based meats and dairy products that have the potential to enable unprecedented taste and texture improvements in these fast-growing categories.

Food producers have historically relied on existing ingredients such as coconut oil to replicate the sensory experience of animal-derived fats, but current solutions don’t taste, cook, or interact with other ingredients like animal fats do.

Faithfully recreating the attributes of animal fat has been a missing link for plant-based food developers. Motif FoodWorks and its collaborators are working to close major gaps in taste, texture, and appearance that are critical to the creation of plant-based foods that consumers actually crave.

Over a 12-month period, Motif will assess a set of promising technologies that aim to improve animal-free fats to make consumer favorites like plant-based burgers, sausages and cheese more delicious, including:

• Replacing saturated fat with an animal-free emulsion system that exhibits the physical properties of saturated fat at room temperature;
• Replicating critical animal fat structures, such as the pockets of fat in meat products that produce marbling;
• And improving the texture of plant-based cheeses, to be more meltable and elastic.

Under the exclusive evaluation period with the University of Guelph and Marangoni, Motif can exercise options to acquire or license these technologies.