For generations, American families have made a bowl of cereal their No.1 breakfast of choice; in 2007, over 54 percent of Americans consumed a cold cereal for breakfast, and U.S. breakfast cereal sales were in excess of $6 billion (excluding Wal-Mart sales). In just a few short decades, the breakfast cereal has evolved from basic flakes and puffs into a range of products that provide an array of sizes, shapes, textures and, increasingly, customized nutrition for specific consumer life stages and health benefits. In fact, sales of cereals with nutritional benefit claims, such as added fiber, heart health, satiety, formulated for men/women, increased by over 13 percent in 2007 – double the growth of the cereal category as a whole.
Increasingly, consumers are eating breakfast on the go, grabbing cereal-based snack bars packed with nutrients to sustain them through the morning. These bars combine unique grains, proteins, fiber, vitamins and more and present product design and processing challenges that include texture, flavor masking and shelf life.
National Starch Food Innovation offers a unique array of ingredient solutions and the formulating and processing skills to enable food manufacturers to meet consumers’ quests for flavor, novel textures, enhanced nutrition, improved quality, convenience and functionality in their favorite breakfast food.
National Starch Food Innovation offers specialty starches, specialty ingredients, functional fibers and whole grain ingredients for a wide array of cereal applications.
- Extruded cereals
- Flaked cereals
- Granola cereals
- Puffed cereals
- Low, medium, and high shear extruded/puffed cereals
- Shredded cereals
- Gluten-free cereals
- Whole-grain cereals
- High-fiber cereals
Challenges
- Extended bowl life
- Desired crispiness and crunchiness
- Minimal moisture migration
- Resistance to breakage
- Process, shear extrusion stability
- Binding of granola components
- Adhesion of coatings
- Controlled expansion
- Flake, shape and size uniformity
- Fiber enrichment and retention
- Whole grain with high fiber