Functional foods

Citation

(2009), "Functional foods", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 39 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2009.01739eab.020

Functional foods

Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 39, Issue 5.

One of the UK's leading clean label ingredients developers, suppliers and manufacturers, Ulrick & Short Ltd, has announced plans to launch a range of new nutritionally beneficial ingredients later this year.

The company has joined forces with Appetizing Innovation to prove the efficacy and legality of ingredients with specific health declarations and to help the company take its first major steps towards diversifying into clean label crop-based functional foods.

Backed by Yorkshire Forward, Appetizing Innovation is part of a consortium made up of the Regional Food Group, Food Processing Faraday Partnership, Leeds Metropolitan and Sheffield Hallam Universities. Appetizing Innovation is conducting a full review, for Ulrick & Short, of the health claims for a plant, which is a traditional replacement for sugar and fat in foods, compared to plant extracts with comparable properties. This review will include a chemical analysis and a detailed explanation of the results.

Ulrick & Short hopes that the launch of this complimentary range of ingredients with health promoting properties will generate around 10-15 per cent of its annual turnover by 2015.

To date Ulrick & Short has focused its business on clean label ingredients for food system functionality, and is continually growing in both geographical and application terms. This growth is set to continue steadily over the next year and Ulrick & Short already has expansion plans that will ultimately create more jobs.

With functional food being such a rapid growth area, Ulrick & Short is confident that it will be far ahead of its competition. Ulrick & Short's director Andrew Ulrick said: “The move to dietary functionality forms a core focus of the innovations division at Ulrick & Short. Our Delyte range of fat replacers has already given evidence that consumers have become increasingly aware of the importance of having a healthy lifestyle and well balanced diet”.

“This has triggered a natural progression towards the consumption of foods targeted at specific bodily functions and this will become part of everyday life – we have already seen the impact of omega oils in foods. Our expertise in the bakery, dairy and breakfast cereal industry is a great platform for our new clean label functional ingredients”.

Ulrick & Short is dedicated to providing full technical support for all its ingredients and will be taking the same committed approach with its new range of clean label functional foods.

Since forming in 2000, Ulrick & Short has made excellent headway into key market areas. The company has a broad range of innovative clean label ingredients, which include binders, emulsifiers, bakery glazes, fat replacers and phosphate alternatives, allowing food processors to remove chemicals, additives and allergens without compromising quality, taste or texture.

Formed in 2000, Ulrick & Short Ltd is a leading developer, designer, manufacturer and supplier of high-quality clean label ingredients, which are predominantly used by the UK food industry.

Ingredients developed by Ulrick & Short contain no chemicals or artificial components and are free from genetic modification. The company develops bespoke solutions to suit individual needs across a wide range of foods including processed meats, soups and sauces, baked goods and battered products.

All of Ulrick & Short's raw materials are processed by accredited partners worldwide and the quality of the ingredients is assured by the controlled environment of the company's own development kitchens.

More product details can be found at: www.ulrickandshort.com