Ingredients manufacturer Ulrick & Short has launched an egg replacer designed for vegan baking.

Ovaprox V is the latest addition to its Ovaprox egg replacement range, and is the manufacturer’s first 100% “clean label” egg replacer.

“In the last five years, veganism as a lifestyle has become a mainstream trend. This is a great opportunity for food manufacturers to discover innovative ingredients and textures,” said Adrian Short, director at Ulrick & Short.

“The bakery industry needs to capitalise on this trend, otherwise they will get left behind. Ovaprox allows manufacturers to do this while maintaining familiar and consumer-friendly back-of-pack declarations.”

Ulrick & Short said the product could be used in a range of bakery applications, including cakes, muffins and waffles, and focused on mimicking the functional properties of egg in relation to volume, crumb structure and texture. It required no process change as it could be easily added to other dry ingredients so not to alter factory processes, explained the firm.

Short added: “There is another strategic advantage for manufacturers here in that Ovaprox is both competitively priced and price-stable. We have seen in the last 18 months, just how volatile egg markets are, with the fipronil scandal causing massive price fluctuations hitting manufacturers hard.”

As veganism continues to grow and a multitude of NPD enters the market, subscribers to British Baker can see the latest vegan bakery launches for Veganuary in our round-up here.