Driven by the global health & wellness trend, the market for plant-based foods is growing continuously – numerous product innovations are conquering the shelves worldwide. However, the development of plant-based products is challenging. With our new PLANT FUTURE platform, we are bundling our extensive expertise in plant-based dairy, meat and fish alternatives.

Bell pursues a holistic approach in order to provide its customers with a natural and flavourful plant-based product portfolio. The PLANT FUTURE platform can be thought of as a kind of toolbox. In addition to functional flavour solutions that mask certain off-notes or enhance sensory attributes, for example, Bell offers a range of characteristic natural flavour profiles.

PLANT FUTURE combines a wide range of flavour components that can be used in the development of challenging recipes within a wide variety of product categories, especially in dairy products and fish and meat substitutes.

Is the plant-based food industry still at the beginning of its development? We don’t think so. Looking at the variety of plant-based products on the market today, or the quality of individual plant-based alternatives compared to their animal-based counterparts, or the long-term strategies of retail players to focus more and more on plant-based products, it seems wrong to characterise the industry as young or niche.

For consumers, product variety is particularly important – as well as the ability to integrate plant-based products into their everyday lives and consume them at different times and occasions. Innovation also plays a key role here – which is why product development has long since moved into niche categories as well.

Ultimately, the claim of purely plant-based ingredients is highly attractive to consumers who, by consciously opting for plant-based alternative products, are helping to do something good for their health and also for the planet.

For the majority of consumers, the flavour of plant-based products is decisive. However, plant-based protein sources often produce undesirable off-flavours. Similarly, certain sensorial characteristics that round off the flavour are often missing, which is why plant-based alternatives are perceived as less appealing by some consumers. In the case of meat and fish alternatives, for example, consumers want these products to mimic the typical flavour profile of the animal variant.

Some vegetable protein sources deliver bitter or even beany off-flavours. Certain organoleptic attributes are also often missing. Depending on the protein source and recipe, masking or other natural flavouring solutions are often the only way to develop well-rounded, full-bodied and successful market products that appeal to a broad target group.

Whitepaper

Plant-based cheeses

In our whitepaper we discuss the key trends and insights in the plant-based cheese market, explain the main challenges and opportunities and finally present the results of our cheese taste benchmark analysis with our corresponding product solutions.

Download whitepaper for free