Company: Butter Buds, Inc.

Website: www.bbuds.com

Ingredient Snapshot: Butter Buds Inc., a global business in dairy and non-dairy concentrates, recently highlighted several solutions it has developed to help manufacturers overcome common formulation challenges that may be encountered when using pea protein in meat/meat alternative applications. Butter Buds offers a suite of rich flavor solutions which improve both the flavor and texture of pea-protein products, resulting in great-tasting, cleanlabel foods. 

The meat alternative and plant-based market is ever-growing, as consumers seek healthier food options. Supermarket News recently reported that the market for plant-based food surged 27 percent to $7 billion within the last year, nearly double the amount of overall U.S. retail grocery sales, which had a 15 percent increase in 2020. The pandemic has been a major factor propelling the growth of the market over the past year, as consumers work to improve their personal health and seek products that are sustainable and plant-based. 

“Formulators who work with pea-based proteins know that they can present challenges in terms of taste and texture. When incorporating pea-based proteins, it is critical to mask off notes and optimize the texture in the formulation,” said Michael Ivey, national sales director, Butter Buds. “Our ingredients help formulators overcome both of these issues while providing a clean label solution that has great flavor that consumers will love. Butter Buds Bacon enhances savory notes and harmonizes with spices, preventing flavor spikes and adding the desired fatty mouthfeel to meat analogues. Non-Dairy Buds Ghee and Non-Dairy Buds Asia are two solutions that can be used to achieve a nice buttery note in dairy alternatives and more. Our Non-Dairy Butter Flavor and Cocoa Butter Buds are additional solutions that can be used to mask the off notes of pea proteins and create an excellent mouthfeel, in a variety of applications, such as protein drinks.”

“The Butter Buds’ technical team has been working with these ingredient solutions for over a decade,” said Ivey. “They know them inside and out, and continually seek solutions for product development challenges. As more and more brands develop clean label plant-based solutions, our suite of Non-Dairy products can help by providing the necessary flavor and functional building blocks in almost any application. We are excited to help brands deliver what today’s consumers are looking for: meat and dairy alternatives with great taste and texture.”

Request a sample of these Butter Buds dairy-free solutions today, or to find out more about Butter Buds capabilities, click here.