When Mike Leonard started his new role as chief innovation officer in May, he said Ingredion had already laid the groundwork in terms of the aspiration of the company.
“We were already in a place to be the go-to provider of texture and other helpful solutions that make healthy tastes better. And that’s a big challenge,” he said in an interview with Food Dive at IFT in Chicago last week. “Innovation plays a really big role there.”
Prior to joining the Chicago-based ingredient solutions provider, Leonard was the CEO of MycoTechnology, a food ingredient company focusing on fungi. He also spent time at food technology company Motif FoodWorks and Pepsi Co.
In terms of how Leonard plans to drive innovation across the business, bringing together all the components of the company’s different solutions will be key, he said.
“Ingredion has a very wide portfolio of consumer solutions. We’re experts in starch, and we have a long history in that, but with the recent addition of the sweetener business, protein fortification — we’ve got a very broad array of solutions that we can offer.”
The company’s innovation process starts by specifically solving problems for its customers, according to Leonard, and between its technical capabilities, along with its research and development platforms, the executive will focus on making all these systems work better together.
Making healthy taste better
“We’re very interested in being part of the nutrition and health community and working with influencers and thought leaders in that space again, to inform our innovation strategy,” said Leonard.
Ingredion is prioritizing scientific rigor behind the work that it does and products it launches, according to Leonard.
This week, the company launched Fibertex, a multi-benefit citrus fiber that provides enhanced texturizing properties and a “clean label,” Ingredion claimed. It can replace expensive and volatile ingredients like egg, oil and tomato solids to mitigate cost and supply challenges without compromising texture, stability and eating experience, the company said.
Other recent launches have included a clean label pea protein called Vittessense and under its Kerr brand, a red raspberry PC 28 brix product and cranberry juice concentrate 50 brix product, which can be used for clean ingredient fruit solutions in protein bars.
“As an ingredients company, we want to make sure that when we introduce a new product, especially if it relates to potential claims that customers can make, we’ve already got the environment cultivated for that new ingredient to thrive from a thought leadership standpoint,” said Leonard.
Higher expectations
Leonard has observed during his time in the industry that consumers are expecting more from their food.
“It’s not just about the macronutrients, it’s how much of them am I getting and is is my food serving me in ways that they may not have before,” said Leonard. “It’s a very complicated landscape and that’s why we’re reaching out to more experts in the influencer community of nutrition and health.”
Leonard said that when innovating, Ingredion needs to pressure test its own agenda.
“We want to make sure that what we’re working on is aligned and supported by what the community understands to be true.”
In terms of challenges on the horizon, Leonard said he is keeping an eye on the cost pressures that the food supply has been under.
“From our standpoint, we view the solutions we provide as value added, but we’re very sensitive to the cost in use,” Leonard said. “We want to make sure that our solutions are easy to adopt, and we’re not approaching the industry with products that are just out of the zone.”
Leonard also said that no matter how healthy a food is, you still have to make sure consumers want to eat it, and a big part of that is elevating texture as well as taste, to complete the entire eating experience.
“When consumers say taste matters, they actually mean the eating experience, too. So we think there are opportunities for premium innovation in spaces like texture.”
