Our holistic product development services encompass:

• Converting recipes into formulations with weighted ingredients
• Validating ingredients are both necessary and meet any relevant regulations
• Creating prototypes that meet key product features (i.e., shelf-life, taste, texture)
• Achieving targeted nutritional factors (i.e. lowering sodium, sugar or increasing protein)
• Sourcing functional ingredient sample (e.g., modified starches)
• Unbiased sensory analysis with in-house panelists
• Initial ingredient label
• Quality and Food Safety testing (e.g., pH, texture, moisture, etc.)
• Initial package and process testing

At the product development stage, you have the option to complete a Product Brief which can describe the product you are interested to create, along with all of the features you desire such as flavor, and any other requirements. This could include ingredients you don’t want to use such as artificial sweeteners. This brief helps guide the development of the prototype and enables staff to test and compare different ingredients to achieve the optimal outcomes.

Things to keep in mind:

• Validating ingredients and usage in this stage also saves you time and potential changes down the road in case of not meeting regulatory specifications.
• Obtaining samples from certified suppliers helps to determine what functional ingredients might be needed.
• Although this is done at a small (kitchen) scale, different processing equipment can be tested, and packaging options selected to inform future scale up manufacturing.