A breakthrough in taste which allows manufacturers to create more consumer-friendly foods is the key to a bright future for Cargill's Prolisse brand of soy isolates, the company claims.
"Until now, the soy beany taste isolates gave to foods and beverages made the ingredient less appealing to the western palette," said Kevin Marcus, director of marketing for Cargill Soy Protein Solutions.
"But the bland flavour and high protein content of the Prolisse isolate makes it an ideal solution for food manufacturers to incorporate enough soy protein in their products to meet the FDA's soy protein health claim." This claim permits food companies to highlight the cardiovascular health benefits of soy protein, and its addition to food labels has led to a sharp increase in the popularity of soy-based foods in recent months.
Marcus explained that Prolisse was created using a patented proprietary processing technology which gave it a "superior taste, solubility and mouthfeel". The product is particularly good for use in products such as dairy-like products, infant formulas, processed meat and poultry, meat alternatives, baked goods and other prepared foods, he said.
In addition to their health benefits, isolates also provide functional properties to products including water holding, emulsification and gelling which help to maintain or improve food quality, Marcus said. For example, a high-viscosity, high-gelling isolate can be formulated to produce meat substitutes that have a meat-like texture, while a low-viscosity, highly soluble isolate would be more effective to create a RTD nutritional beverage, he said.