Leveraging legumes: Andfoods’ CEO talks fermentation that “milks” alt-dairy from pulses

26 Mar 2024 --- Last week, Food Ingredients First reported on the New Zealand start-up Andfoods’ innovative plant-based milk extraction technology from seeds or “pulses” of legumes — traditionally used as an “orphan crop” to regenerate soil between rice harvests. We now sit down with the company’s CEO, Alex Devereux, to navigate the challenges of capturing the right taste, look and texture in alt-dairy formulations and how their latest innovation can ease the “mounting pressure” on firms to decrease their carbon footprint.

The company has tapped into fermentation to formulate a range of allergen-free dairy substitutes, including creams and milk powder, which promise a “creamy” taste profile aligning with consumer demands without “compromising” the environment.

What inspired the company to focus on legumes to formulate alt-dairy products?
Devereux: We were looking for a crop that was both sustainable and had properties that improved the functionality of the final ingredients we were to create. The lack of enriched nutrition in the available plant-based milk products was another motivation to look for a better alternative starting material. One of our co-founders, Arup, is from India. His knowledge of the dairy industry and deep understanding of native pulses from India took us on a path to our chosen crop, which is nutrient-rich, soil enhancing and not heavily water-reliant compared to other crops commonly used by the industry.

Through our research and technology development, we’ve found ways to enhance the value of the crop by formulating value-added products with better nutrition elements and discovered that the crop has key foaming properties. 

Andfoods uses optimized fermentation for “greater control” of flavor profile in its dairy alternatives.What properties do legumes have that make them suitable for plant-based cream formulation?
Devereux: Though many dairy alternatives reasonably capture the taste and texture of dairy milk, few to date have come close to emulating the measurable quality of high-grade cow-based creams or milk powders. As a result, many extra ingredients are needed throughout the manufacturing process. Our chosen legume has properties that reduce the need for a long list of additives to make it functional. This, combined with the aesthetic appeal, makes it a perfect candidate for creating high-quality vegan cream products.

What challenges do alt-dairy formulators face while trying to achieve the texture and taste of dairy and how can your product help meet consumers’ sensory and clean label demands?
Devereux: No one wants their milk or cream to taste like a plant, so either the chosen base ingredient must have a neutral flavor, or the flavor must somehow be masked. We achieved this more naturally by developing an optimized fermentation process using food-grade and health-promoting microorganisms.

You may notice that a lot of alt-dairy milk and cream is a different color, often off-white or even light brown. This is due to the natural coloring of the base ingredients. Our chosen legume provides an excellent color profile to the finished products, matching closely with dairy milk.

Texture is often the most challenging aspect. Cream is supposed to be creamy, cheese is supposed to melt and be stretchy, barista milk is meant to froth. In cream, we achieved this by carefully selecting ingredients other than the legume extract. The inherent functional properties of the legume itself contributed a lot in obtaining the desirable texture, mouthfeel and other desirable sensory perceptions.

How is your product different from the current alt-dairy products in the market? How cost-effective is it?
Devereux: It has a neutral taste, higher protein content than oat, almond, rice and coconut-based products and is superior functionally, especially due to the whipping ability and acid/heat stability. Our fermentation process enhances the nutritional benefits of the highly sustainable crop.

As a B2B company, we will work with food manufacturers to create products for consumers. Our ingredients pricing will be competitive. We don’t require expensive and complex equipment compared to precision fermentation processes to keep our costs lower. 

Based on lab tests, Andfoods’ signature cream has a consistent 140% overrun.What market reaction are you expecting to the product?
Devereux: Feedback through conversations with potential partners has shown us that our products solve several problems in already existing dairy alternatives: allergens, functionality, taste and texture. Also, there is a mounting pressure on firms to decrease their carbon footprint. 

Replacing dairy with our dairy-alternative ingredients is a simple way to significantly impact this. 

We are expecting consumers to be delighted that popular dairy products will be available in dairy alternative form, still taste like their dairy counterparts and have additional benefits relating to climate and health. Our creams have a higher protein content than alternative products, which will be seen as favorable.

What can we expect to see this year regarding growth and innovations in alt-dairy?
Devereux: In New Zealand, we have seen a huge growth in oat milk consumption. This is not exclusive to those with dietary requirements — people are switching their cow-based milk coffees for oat milk and other alternative milk due to taste, perceived health benefits and sustainability aspects. We expect this to continue to grow and for demand for other dairy alternatives to continue to increase, especially as technology advances and the taste and texture surpass cow-based dairy. You’ll likely see more and more dairy-alternative products with a variety of different crops as their base. 

By Insha Naureen