Euringus introduces organic pea fibre for Europe

General manager Thomas Guillermou told FoodNavigator.com that the aim of the company, founded in 2003, is to be a one-stop-shop for organic and functional ingredients.

Its product portfolio includes colours, flavours and extracts.

Guillermou said that the addition of the pea fibre alongside the other fibre it offers, inulin, opens up commercial synergies.

Inulin is a soluble fibre and is therefore more suitable for use in beverages; whereas pea fibre is insoluble and can be used to create a gel for use in bakes foods, cereal and energy bars, meat products.

The company said its organic pea fibre also be used as a wheat and soy fibre replacement, for products aimed at allergy sufferers.

Other key benefits include increasing water absorption and yields, reducing fat and a cholesterol-lowering effect.

Guillermou cited figures from the Eurodiet report ('Nutrition and Diet for Healthy Lifestyles in Europe', completed 2001), which found that Europeans consume an average of only 15g of fibre per day, against a recommended 25 to 30g. Efforts to bridge the fibre gap are being made by food companies, which are developing appealing products with enriched fibre, and governments.

Some countries, such as France and the UK, have advertising and public health campaigns urging consumers to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

The underlying message to these campaigns, according to Guillermou, is fibre content - fibre being the umbrella term for plant substances that are not digested, or only partly digested, by consumers.

"We think that will push demand.

Consumers will become more and more attentive to fibre."

This means that they will be more likely to notice higher fibre content on food product labels.

Moreover, consumers in the organic food camp tend to pay more attention to nutrition, he added, so the organic pea fibre, which is imported from Canada, is ideally positioned to appeal to their priorities.

According to the most recent figures from consultancy Frost & Sullican, in Europe and Japan, soluble fibre had the greater market share than insoluble in 2004.

In the US, where the entire fibre market was worth $192.8m (€151.0m) in 2004, insoluble fibre dominated the market with $176.2m (€138.0m), and $16.6m (€13.0m) soluble.