Tate & Lyle has announced the expansion of its range of native starches, with the introduction of two extra dry starch products: MERIZET® 116 and MERIZET® 118, with low moisture contents of typically 5% and 7% respectively.

Extra dry starches are used in frozen dough, dehydrated soups, noodles, sauces, desserts, and other dry mixes in which moisture control is critical.

They improve the stability and shelf life of the final product by helping to prevent the development of moisture in the product during storage.

Extra dry starches are especially key for dry mixes sold in tropical markets.

Clotilde Feuillade, Texturants Product Manager at Tate & Lyle Speciality Food Ingredients, says: "There is an increasing demand in the market for extra dry starches which are highly complex to manufacture. We are therefore delighted to introduce two new varieties, helping manufacturers to formulate their products more easily."

Both new starch references are made from non genetically modified maize and are manufactured in Tate & Lyle's European flagship starch facility in the Netherlands.

While the plant specialises in modified starches, it also generates value added native starches such as moulding starches MERIZET® 150 and MERIZET® 158 for confectionery applications.