Prep for FIC with revolutionary rice starches

As the prospect looms of the Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU 1169/2011 – also known as ‘FIC’), due to be implemented this December, food manufacturers are already considering how best to meet its requirements.
 
Ulrick & Short Ltd., leading British-owned clean label starch specialist, is under no illusions about the new regulations. Director Adrian Short said, “Of course food manufacturers must be transparent about their use of ingredients, and communicate this to the consumer accurately and responsibly. Manufacturers can make it easier on themselves by looking more closely at the components of their products; for example clean label rice starches can replace a range of other ingredients in numerous sweet and savory food products, simplifying labels and helping companies meet the demands of FIC.”
 
Synergie rice starch is gluten-free, non-GM and extremely versatile; as a naturally derived product it provides smooth mouth-feel and good stabilization qualities for desserts, sauces and many other applications. It is the ideal addition to U&S’s established range of starches and fibers from other natural crops including wheat, tapioca and waxy maize.
 
These robust starches underpin improvements in texture and process tolerance in a wide selection of foods with absolutely no detriment to quality—even enhancing the consumer experience, as proven in taste tests. Rice starches are especially useful for cleaning up labels, improving customer perception of natural ingredients whilst also providing non-allergenic digestive qualities to meet the growing demands of the ‘free from’ sector.
 
“FIC is all about reassuring consumers and helping them to make informed decisions about the food they purchase,” Short said. “That’s exactly the goal that U&S has been targeting for many years. All of our ingredients support simplification and cleaning up of food labels and bring their own features and benefits to food manufacturing processes; rice starch is just the icing on the cake—in fact, it could well be in the icing on the cake!”