San Francisco-based food summit Future Food-Tech is partnering with Givaudan and Danone North America for two Innovation Challenges. The unrelated competitions will seek start-ups to find industry solutions to improve natural functional foods and plant-based innovation. 

“We’ve found that by partnering with start-ups, we diversify how we approach market challenges and development, and we greatly expand our innovative reach,” Emilie Fromentin, head of explore health and nutrition of taste and well-being at Givaudan, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“This ultimately is a win-win for the start-ups, Givaudan and consumers. Start-ups in all areas, including immunity, are pushing the boundaries of innovation.”

Givaudan’s challenge seeks natural ingredients for use in foods that support immunity, energy and sleep. Danone North America’s competition, meanwhile, challenges start-ups to improve the texture and melting properties of plant-based cheese. 

The Innovation Challenges provide start-ups with the opportunity to collaborate with corporate leaders and access top-level support, expertise and facilities to scale their solutions. 

Givaudan forecasts immunity and sleep to stay top of mind for consumers in the coming years.Givaudan’s natural ingredients challenge 
Givaudans challenge is looking for most interested in companies who, at a minimum, have proof of principle and prototypes, and its preference is for companies that are clinically backed. 

“Consumers are seeking to better understand how food impacts their mental health and what the link is between their gut and their immune system. They are looking for proven solutions they can trust,” affirms Fromentin. 

Pandemic effects press on
Immunity and sleep emerged as megatrends during the pandemic, as consumers sought to stay healthy and ward off stress. 

Fromentin forecasts that these trends are here to stay. “We anticipate a continuation of these trends in the coming years, which may in part be linked to the emergence of variants.” 

She adds that consumers were already aware of how the immune system and sleep quality affect one’s overall well-being and this awareness is likely to remain at the top of consumers’ minds. 

Irresistibly melty plant-based cheese
Danone North America, on other hand, is offering mentorship and support in the plant-based cheese challenge. This competition is looking for technologies that deliver more functionality to cheese alternatives. 

“Plant-based cheese alternatives is one of the most technically challenging categories when it comes to dairy alternatives, especially when it comes to stretch and melt because casein is the only protein known to deliver those functionalities,” says Takoua Debeche, chief research and innovation officer at Danone North America. 

Melt and stretch are the main obstacles in replicating dairy’s properties in plant-based cheese.Participating start-ups are encouraged to explore shredded or sliced cheeses such as mozzarella or cheddar rather than artisan cheeses.

Viable technologies for this challenge can be both ready to be applied in the short term, like plant-based extrusion, and in the medium to longer term, such as microbial fermentation and cell-culturing.

Applicants should, at a minimum, have proof of principle and prototypes.

Closing in on the competition
Final pitches and the start-up winner will be crowned at Future Food-Tech, San Francisco: March 24-25, 2022. 

“Creative thinking that leads to true innovation is reliant on collaboration and co-creation and we have found that this mentality works beautifully between Givaudan and start-up companies,” says Fabio Campanile, global head of science and technology, taste and wellbeing at Givaudan. 

“Together, we’re able to get further faster – and often better.”

Last year at Future Food-Tech, Roquette and Quorn hosted separate Innovation Challenges related to alt proteins. 

Roquette sought to “deliver unique gastronomic experiences,” while Quorn searched for start-ups that could provide a “whole muscle food experience” in alternative meats.

2021’s winners, NotCo and Umiami, were revealed at the Future Food-Tech Alternative Proteins Summit last June.