FiE 2025: How Gelita’s OptiBar enables higher protein in sports nutrition bars
16 Jan 2026 | Gelita
At the recent Food ingredients Europe (FiE), we discussed Gelita’s OptiBar solution with Oliver Wolf, in charge of global product promotion. OptiBar enables high-protein bars that stay soft, stable, and enjoyable throughout their shelf life. It also allows manufacturers to create sugar-free and savory cereal and granola bar options. Wolf said this solution meets consumer demand for high-protein, low-sugar sports nutrition and healthier snacking options.
This is Yolande van Gaal from Nutrition Insights.
I'm here with Oliver Wolf from Glida at Food Ingredients Europe in Paris, France.
Thank you for joining us today.
Hello, nice to meet you.
And I'm curious because one that you're showcasing lots of different solutions in at the show this year.
And one of them is Pepsi bar, and I know it's positioned as a next generation bar technology.
Can you tell us what problem in functional snacking does it solve most effectively for manufacturers?
Yes, especially for high protein bars.
So if you want to produce a high protein bars, you have one big problem.
The big problem is you want to put as much protein in the bar as possible.
But then the bar tends to get hard, especially during the lifetime.
And if you're using Optiar, you can keep a soft and tender texture in the in the in the in the protein bar.
So therefore it will not be too hard to brittle, and you can maintain a soft tender during the whole, whole lifetime.
And additionally you can use Optiar for for cereal bars.
With Optiar you can produce low sugar or even low sugar cereal bars.
So this is a big big advantage here and also allows you to produce cereal bars with a savory taste, not only with with a sweet taste, because you eliminate the sugar as a binder here.
OK, interesting.
And what types of consumer groups are driving interest in Opttiar specifically, and can you tell us how trends like reduced sugar, as you mentioned, or clean labels and indulge in wellness shape that demand?
Yeah, it's the active lifestyle.
Everybody wants to have more protein and less sugar, so it's it's it's, it's a big trend everywhere.
So they want to avoid the the the sugar in the cereal bars, and also they want to to snack healthy and therefore Optiar is pretty good, so you can put more protein in a in a in a bar and make it more healthy.
OK, and I know that collagen is shaping or expanding across beauty, performance, and healthy aging.
It's really growing in lots of areas.
Where are you seeing the strongest growth today and which segments represent the biggest opportunities for Gleta in the next two years in terms of collagen?
Yeah, so beauty is still the biggest segment at all.
So beauty is and it's growing, it's still growing, but others are keeping up now.
So it's sports nutrition, healthy aging, longevity, active beauty, and also the active nutrition in total, becoming more and more important for for the for the consumers as.
So these will be the trends in the future and they can all be really good to be solved with collagen.
OK, and your bioactive collagen peptides, they target very specific health benefits, and we've talked about this in the past as.
How is scientific understanding evolving around the role of those peptides in performance, mobility, and beauty, like some of the aspects.
Science is still the basis.
You need to have the science, and the consumers are more and more conscious and aware of what's good for them, and they know what they want, and they are not excited.
Only if you tell them that's good for them, they want the proof.
And the proof is being provided by the science.
So therefore we do extensive science for all of our peptides and to approve what we promise.
So each claim that we do is supported by individual and high class science.
OK, and finally, I know that one of the key themes here at the show is be active, the whole platform.
It brings different collagen solutions under one umbrella.
How does that concept reflect some wider shifts in things like multi-functional snacking, performance nutrition and healthy aging, like wider trends within the industry.
Yeah, so, so the be active actually for us is the connecting piece of all our our our our ingredients or our peptides.
So it's it's providing a holistic approach over the whole peptide range.
So it's for active beauty, it's active aging, it's active nutrition because everybody wants to be active.
And so it helps to put everything together and stick the umbrella for the whole whole brand and the whole brands and.
And works as a holistic approach for for all our peptides.
OK, awesome, thank you so much.
Thank you.
