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Des Moines, IA, – June 15, 2015 – At the 9th Annual American Food Technology and Innovation Summit in Chicago, Dr. Will Schroeder from Kemin presented “Protecting Flavor and Color with Natural Plant Extracts” to leaders in the food innovation, processing and manufacturing industries.

Dr. Schroeder, director of research and development for the food technologies division in United States, joined Kemin in 2010, and has 20 years of experience in product development, research and technology, with a focus in the food sector. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University and his B.S in Chemistry from Augsburg College.

“It was a privilege to present at the summit, to leaders in our field at an event that bridges the gap between R&D, Marketing and Innovation,” stated Dr. Schroeder. “I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my work with this group of highly motivated innovators.” He joined industry experts from Tyson Foods, NASA Johnson Space Center, the Coca-Cola Company and Hampton Creek, who all made presentations focused on harnessing new technologies and ingredients to improve performance in an increasingly competitive industry.

Dr. Schroeder’s informative presentation highlighted how different types of oxidation affect food, causing color and flavor loss, nutrient degradation and subsequently, reduced shelf life. He explained how different types of foods have different rates of oxidation, the most rapid being in high-fat-content food categories like Fats and Oils, Dressings and Sauces, and particularly, Meat and Poultry. He then shared how three categories of oxidation solutions—free radical scavengers, oxygen reducers and chelators–can act to either retard or break the chain of oxidation in food.

Next, Dr. Schroeder gave examples of natural plant-based extracts from each of the categories, including rosemary, green tea (both water- and oil-soluble), spearmint and acerola, and illustrated each of their targeted roles in the anti-oxidation process. His examples showed, how the different ingredients positively affect emulsions, delay flavor and color loss, and are consumer friendly alternatives to commonly used synthetic antioxidants. He shared the unique challenges meat and poultry solutions require, since two types of oxidation degrade meat’s color and flavor, and cited the results of a test done on ground beef color loss, which proved that combinations of plant extracts are the most effective at delaying oxidation.

Interesting, but how does this impact food production market?

Today’s food consumers have never been savvier or more concerned about where their food comes from and what is added to it, while producers must be concerned with rising food production costs and narrowing profit margins. Kemin natural plant extracts provide multifunctional solutions that offer the ability to extend shelf life of meat, poultry and other food products—optimizing both producer needs and retail customer demands—and all done as a label friendly option. Since it is crucial to make the best choice, when it comes to processing solutions, Kemin is proud to share how their ingredients can improve performance in today’s competitive food manufacturing industry.

Kemin – Inspired Molecular Solutions™

Kemin (www.kemin.com) provides “inspired molecular solutions” specifically developed to provide nutrition and health benefits for humans and animals. Committed to feed and food safety, Kemin maintains top-of-the-line manufacturing facilities where approximately 500 specialty ingredients are made for the global feed and food industries as well as the health, nutrition and beauty markets. A privately held, family-owned and operated company, Kemin has nearly 2,000 employees and operates in more than 90 countries with manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa and the United States.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Courtney Schwartz, 515-559-5123, courtney.schwartz@kemin.com

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