Baking & Snack - July 2015 - 78

EGGS AND EGG REPLACERS

Back to normal ... but when?

The best advice is to seek egg replacers that retain the flavor and quality profile
of control products.
Corbion Caravan

A first-of-its-kind combination of whey protein
concentrate with milled flaxseed cued development of
OptiSol 3000 egg replacer by Glanbia Nutritionals. It
was designed for 100% replacement of eggs in low-egg
content items. "Many applications like cookies, which
do not depend on the foaming power of eggs, allow
100% replacement," Ms. Rees said. "Whey offers some
flavor synergies that are especially beneficial in bakery
products, which makes it easier for formulators to use."
Since then, the company tapped different proteins
to give different performance, developing a system for
muffins and another for foam cakes, including chiffon,
yellow and white styles. "Customers are also requesting
an egg white replacer, and partial replacement is possible with some of these systems and also with straight
whey protein isolate," Ms. Rees reported. "We've also
been asked about a vegan system, but for most bakery
customers, 'dairy' is not a dirty word."
Soy flour and soy proteins are also mainstays among
egg replacer components. "Soy flour is the oldest solution to egg replacement in the baking industry," Mr.
Gilbert claimed. "It has other benefits in bakery formulas, namely moisture retention and as a fat mimetic." The
drawback with soy flour, however, is that it is limited to
25% replacement of egg levels. "That's about all you can
do," he said.
In addition to the company's Prolia soy flour, bakers
can turn to its EmTex starches and Gelogen functional
systems to replace up to 50% of whole, white or yolks in
bakery products.
Soy protein concentrates are more functional and allow higher rates of substitution. That's the basis for the
Scotsman's Mill line of BLUE100 and BLUE155-A egg replacers from Natural Products, Inc., Grinnell, IA. According

78 Baking & Snack July 2015 / www.bakingandsnack.com

This year's version of bird flu is called
highly pathogenic avian influenza
(HPAI) for a good reason: It causes 95%
mortality in a flock in just five days.
And it has led to historic losses, up to
46 million hens at press time.
"Our world changed April 20, and it
changed forever," said Chad Gregory,
president, United Egg Processors
(UEP). "That was when we learned of
the first confirmed egg layer deaths
due to avian influenza (AI)." UEP is a
cooperative representing 95% of the US
egg farmers and further processors of
liquid, dried and frozen egg products.
"We don't know what tomorrow will
bring," Mr. Gregory said.
Some experts predict the HPAI outbreak may be under control within four
months when summer passes. This virus generally doesn't like hot weather.
Others won't speculate on an end date,
noting that AI continues to persist in
Mexico despite its warm climate. Some
expect another bout this fall when migrating birds head south for the winter.
Recent news finds the rate of AI infection slowing, even though it now turns
up in more isolated places outside the
big egg-producing states.
Recovery could be slow. Egg farmers
manage their flocks to maintain steady
output, so they set up each hen house
with birds of a different age. It takes 16
weeks to raise newly hatched chicks to
laying condition. Preparation - sanitization and cleaning - of the contaminated houses complicates this timing.
USDA won't allow repopulation until
the house passes three separate swab
tests, observed Richard Broad, vicepresident, Bender Goodman Co., Inc.,
Jersey City, NJ.
Mr. Gregory summarized, "It takes
months to fully repopulate a poultry
operation. This problem won't be fixed
for at least a year, if not two." He said
that after the previous AI episode in
1983 in Pennsylvania, markets and
prices took 24 months before returning
to normal.

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Baking & Snack - July 2015

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