OPPORTUNITY:
Licensing, product acquisition, contract research, joint development, supplier agreement, proof of concept leading to scale up to manufacturing
TIMELINE:
Phase 1 – Proof of concept validation (6 – 9 months)
Phase 2 – Commercialisation to production (12 months)
FINANCIALS:
Terms to be negotiated based on technology maturity level
NineSigma, representing a global frozen food manufacturer, seeks proposals for ingredients, additives, packaging or processing solutions to enable fast release of fragrances in low temperature environments.
Customer sensory experience during frozen dessert consumption are based primarily on taste, texture and appearance, but not the smell. When describing sensory properties of frozen dessert, the scent is rarely mentioned.
Although the fragrant molecules are partially released during consumption of frozen dessert, immediately after opening the packaging, frozen dessert has no odor. The reason is that the fragrant molecules can reach the human sense of smell receptors only if they are in the gaseous state, while frozen dessertˈs fragrant molecules are in the liquid state.
Only when evaporating at higher temperatures are fragrant molecules able to exceed gas phase and achieve sufficient speed to pass the distance between the food and our nose and thereby trigger our sensory receptors.
The successful solution(s) will enhance the customer experience on opening of frozen food products by releasing the fragrances from a broad range of products such as baked cakes, hot tea or fresh coffee, chocolate, fruits, etc.
The successful technology will meet the following criteria:
- The product must comply with health & safety requirements and it must be recognized as safe (GRAS)
- In the form of fruity / flavored dessert or milk / cream
- The pH of the product should be between 3.5 – 7
- Freezing point depression factor should be 19-22 for frozen dessert, or 20-25 for fruit / flavored dessert
- The smell of frozen dessert should be actively released and sustained as long as possible
- Key ingredients must be cost effective at commercial volumes
- The resulting solution must be stable for 18-24 months at temperature -18°C or lower
- Frozen dessert should be possible to produce in a conventional manner with commercially available equipment from renowned manufacturer