Dow Food Solutions Expands Production Capacity at Midland Site to Support Launch of WELLENCE™ Fat Reduction
Plant-based food ingredient helps manufacturers meet need for reduced fat content
Dow Food Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, is helping to meet growing market demand by introducing a new product line called WELLENCE™ Fat Reduction (FR) from a new, state-of–the-art production line. The growth is driven by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s anticipated expansion of required calorie labeling for restaurants and retail food establishments, coupled with a general increase in health consciousness among consumers, driving an even greater need for manufacturers to reduce fat claims on their products.
The Midland-based site allows for greater production capacity of the now commercially-available WELLENCE FR, a patented technology to decrease the amount of fat and oil uptake in fried foods. With the food industry looking to meet the demands of more health-conscious consumers, the plant-based functional food ingredient facilitates fat reduction without a corresponding loss in the food’s sensory profile.
“Investing in this enhanced production facility underscores our long-term commitment in bringing innovations like WELLENCE to the food market,” said Marc Van Gerwen, business director for Dow Pharma & Food Solutions. “Consumers are looking for healthier food options and we can help our customers meet this demand with a tailored option that’s easy to implement. The new technology can be incorporated into production and yield great results from bench top – to pilot plant – to full scale production runs.”
When added to a batter or coating system, WELLENCE™ FR can decrease fat (and associated calories) by 35 percent or more through reducing the oil uptake during frying. The process has minimal impact on the sensory profile of foods so that the full-fat flavor and crisp texture is maintained.
“WELLENCE FR can help food manufacturers position their products as more health- conscious and still give the consumer the flavor and texture that they associate with their favorite fried foods,” Chris Spontelli, Marketing Manager for Dow Food Solutions. The technology will be featured at this year’s national IFT show in Chicago, IL.
Dow Food Solutions provides food manufacturers with easy-to-use and cost-effective systems that can offer desired characteristics to their products without sacrificing flavor. Dow provides global and regional brand owners in food markets with innovative formulations and ingredients designed to add value such as fat replacement, preservation or enhanced texture, while meeting market demand for products that are healthy, convenient and enjoyable. For more information about WELLENCE FR and other food technologies, visit www.dowfoodsolutions.com.
About Dow Pharma & Food Solutions
Dow Pharma & Food Solutions designs differentiated solutions that enable pharmaceutical delivery & nutritional benefits to customers around the world. A business of Dow Consumer Care portfolio, Dow Pharma & Food Solutions offers a single interface to all Dow technologies and expertise focused on solutions serving the pharmaceutical and food manufacturing markets. We provide functional excipients, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and highly functional food ingredients to help consumers live healthier, more convenient and enjoyable lives. Dow Pharma & Food Solutions employs 1,200 people across nine sites and 15 manufacturing plants, with six cGMPs, serving customers in around 160 countries.
About Dow
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from material, polymer, chemical and biological science to help address many of the world’s most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow’s integrated, market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in high-growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and agriculture. In 2015, Dow had annual sales of nearly $49 billion and employed approximately 49,500 people worldwide. The Company’s more than 6,000 product families are manufactured at 179 sites in 35 countries across the globe. References to “Dow” or the “Company” mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.
