Kemin opens Baking Innovation Center

Could bread be the next superfood?

Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer, has announced the opening of a new Bakery Innovation Center at its global headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, US.

“This centre expands our bakery footprint and introduces new capabilities made possible with the latest technology,” said Courtney Schwartz, Marketing Director, Kemin Food Technologies.

The bakery expansion includes the launch of batch packs, premixes, emulsifiers and enzyme blends specific to flatbreads and baked goods. The Bakery Innovation Center combines research and development support, customer laboratory services and an in-house bakery pilot plant, allowing bakery and snack manufacturers to expedite commercialisation of new bakery products, and hopes to inspire innovation in the global bakery market. 

The new facility includes:

• An analytical lab which aims to allow continuous evaluation of baked goods for texture and microbial stability to ensure texture remains consistent based on moisture and water activity. This lab includes a texture analyser to help evaluate dough and finished products under all moisture variations
• Ingredient blending and small batch capabilities in a dry blending centre with the capabilities needed to develop new concentrates, premixes, batch packs and individual components
• Pilot scale production capabilities, including a complete tortilla line with a combination corn and flour tortilla oven. All new ingredients and technologies can be screened and tested in all possible processing configurations before trials are done at a customer’s facility
• Accelerated stability facility, equipped with storage incubators that have accelerated high-temperature and humidity conditions that let Kemin create atmospheric variations in lab to evaluate the shelf life of baked goods.

“We provide support to customers by helping them understand the process and science behind our ingredient solutions. The Bakery Innovation Center gives us a way to screen and test all new ingredient solutions and processing parameters to ensure success, which is really exciting,” said Anita Srivastava, PhD, CFS, Senior Product Development Manager – Bakery Applications, Kemin Food Technologies.