Puratos' proprietary research into consumer insights, Taste Tomorrow, showed that 80 percent of consumers are unfamiliar with PGE/PGME’s (aka emulsifiers) and therefore misunderstand what these ingredients are used for. It also shows us they associate chlorinated flour with the following potential health & environmental issues:

• Inflammation
• Toxicity
• Carcinogens

Some retailers have taken the initiative to eliminate bleached flour & emulsifiers from their acceptable ingredients lists. Knowing that bleached flour has been banned in Europe & China, Puratos anticipates US legislation will soon follow & is ready to offer products as such.

But it wasn’t as simple as removing a few ingredients—especially for layer cakes, each ingredient serves a purpose, and removing them proves a difficult feat. The functionality of ingredients such as chlorinated flour and emulsifiers are needed to ensure great quality in layer cakes. For example, chlorinated flour provides the white, fine & resilient crumb texture often preferred in layer cakes. Without either bleached flour or emulsifiers, the resulting cake is yellow in color with an open crumb and has a tendency to collapse.

Nonetheless, Puratos’ patent pending technology and R&D know-how have ensured consistent cake quality with superb performance. Lin Carson, CEO & founder of BAKERpedia, says: “Our users on BAKERpedia have been asking me for a sleek, clean solution for their high ratio cakes. Particularly, the removal of chlorinated flour [and] emulsifiers….When Puratos approached me with this product, I was doubtful. To my surprise, this product held up well with very little crumbliness….The volume was better than the control, and the distribution of cells were homogenous. Puratos had the answer to replacing chlorinated flour and PGME – finally! I have not seen a product that has performed so well without chlorinated flour, SALP and PGME in this market.”