Industrial scale-up of the first all-natural solid fat based on olive oil to produce healthier bakery foods

ended

The CreamOlive project addresses the global need of healthy and high-quality production of bakery food, by introThe CreamOlive project addresses the global need of healthy and high-quality production of bakery food, by introducing the first all-natural fat based on olive oil which is solid at room temperature, thus making it suitable to large industrial processes. This allows producing food with up to 60% lower saturated fat content, capturing the growing “palm oil free” and “free from” trend in the food industry. Palm oil is the most used fat in food production thanks to its very low cost, high availability, and adaptability to industrial processes. Recently, health and environmental concerns are turning palm oil into an unpopular choice amongst consumers. Several food producers who started to go “palm oil free”, adopting alternatives as butter, margarines, or melanges, which often present drawbacks (high saturated fat content, raw material low availability, high cost, etc.). Industrial producers need to diversify their offer with a viable trade-off between industrial needs (cost and adaptability), quality (palatability, crispness, taste), and healthiness (low fat and good-for-you features). Thanks to its patent-pending mechanical process, Mida+ managed to produce a solid formulation with 80% of extra virgin olive oil as fat component. Saturated fats are 60% lower than in palm oil, without using the controversial mono and diglycerides, additives used in most of the margarines which may contains trans-fat acids. CreamOlive has excellent organoleptic features and shelf-life equivalent to palm oil. Furthermore, the unmatched plasticity of the product makes the food product lift with 20% less fat than other competitors, thus increasing its price competitiveness. The Phase 1 project aims at the validation of the CreamOlive value proposition with customers, which will allow fine-tuning the pricing strategy, the business model, and the European commercialisation strategy.