Baking ingredients giant Zeelandia has entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with Irish firm Innov to offer gluten-free and other free-from solutions to the market.
While Zeelandia has been developing gluten-free products for both artisanal and industrial bakers since 2008 through subsidiaries in Italy and the Netherlands, the group said the partnership with Innov meant it is now ‘excellently equipped’ to respond to worldwide trends and would strengthen its position in the market internationally.
An example of the product development from the collaboration is a gluten-free croissant (pictured).
“As an important supplier of ingredients, Zeelandia knows everything there is to know about the production process in bakeries,” said Leo Kruit, industry support at Royal Zeelandia Group, and Rutger van Rooijen, corporate director M&A and business development.
“Thanks to this collaboration with Innov, we now also have all knowledge in-house in the field of developments, innovation and new technology with regard to a gluten-free range. Innov is for us a valuable addition to our knowledge centre: its expertise strengthens that of Zeelandia – and vice versa. We are therefore very happy with this exclusive and far-reaching collaboration.”
The group added that Innov was ‘continuously looking for trends and challenges’, such as vegan as well as gluten-free options, and that Zeelandia would collaborate with the Irish firm to develop ‘high-quality’ recipes that fit within existing product technology.
“Zeelandia already has so much expertise in-house when it comes to product development for the bakery sector,” said Kris Dierckx, global product leader for bread. “With Innov we are bringing in even more expertise that perfectly matches our ambitions to lead the way in the development of food that is good for consumers and good for the world around us.
“We do not only do this by selecting ingredients that fit a healthier and tasty diet. We also continuously offer both small and large bakeries inspiration and innovative solutions, including in the field of gluten-free. By combining Innov’s knowledge with ours, we can now serve bakers even better,” Dierckx added.
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