New egg substitute hatched at Cerestar

In a bid to meet increasing demands from sponge cake manufacturers for a healthier version of their traditionally calorific products, French starch derivative manufacturer Cerestar, now under the wings of US giant Cargill, claims that its product C*EmTex, a nOSA starch, can be used to replace up to 100 per cent of the whole egg.

As well as improving the shelf-life of cakes through improved microbiological stability, Cerestar claims that in the new 'sponge-cake' formulation C*EmTex has a positive impact on the viscosity development of the dough.

According to Cerestar even half of the whole egg can be replaced, without the need to adapt the cake manufacturing production process. Added to this, manufacturers wanting to produce even more fat-free cakes can replace 100 per cent of the egg by decreasing the baking temperature and adapting baking time until the required moisture content of the cake is reached.

Highlighting the benefits of C*EmTex, Mark Wastijn, marketing manager of Cerestar Food & Pharma Specialties Europe said: "There is evidence that consumers' health and nutritional concerns are affecting sales of cakes, so we have developed a cholesterol-reducing, vegetarian product application that can also reduce manufacturing costs. "​

C*EmTex 06328 is a cook-up, modified starch. Adding [eta]-octenyl succinic anhydride (nOSA) in the modification process enables C*EmTex starches to interact with both water and oil.