BCD Bioscience wins Puratos Innovation Challenge
The bakery expert crowned sustainable, fiber-focused start-up BCD Bioscience the winner of the Puratos Innovation Challenge: Technology Enabled Solutions to Enhance Gut Health. The winner was unveiled at the Future Food-Tech Summit in London.
Puratos joined forces with Future Food-Tech, a prestigious industry event aimed at building healthier and more sustainable food systems, to find dynamic innovators developing solutions to modulate the gut microbiome and unlock benefits for physical and mental well-being.
Alongside fellow finalists Kaffe Bueno and FitBiomics, BCD Bioscience pitched its innovative grain-based fiber solution to Puratos judges. BCD Bioscience, which is dedicated to the discovery and development of new bioactive functional fibers from a variety of food sources and byproducts, presented its barley beta-glucan product and outlined its power to revolutionize the bakery sector. The upcycled ingredient has been specially formulated to help close the global fiber gap, without compromising taste, and consequently improve public health outcomes.
Paul Baisier, Group Chief R&D Officer at Puratos, who led the challenge, said: “At Puratos, we have a strong belief in connecting the art of baking with the science of gut health and are dedicated to investing in the discovery of solutions that improve human health and nutrition, in a sustainable way. BCD Bioscience has huge potential and fits perfectly with Puratos’s core objective of food innovation for good, fully embracing and encompassing our key pillars of ‘Better Health’ and ‘Better Planet’. Its new fiber technology platform has led to the discovery of novel functional fibers with a dual benefit; helping to improve gut health modulation and produce gut health promoting compounds. We look forward to helping them to optimize the nutritional aspect of baked goods, without compromising on taste and texture, through functional and technology-driven solutions.”
As part of the winner’s prize, BCD Bioscience will now be invited to pitch to Sparkalis, Puratos’s Food-Tech Venture Arm. The launch of the fund was sparked by a desire to invest in partnerships and innovative technologies that create a healthier and better ‘food print’ for today and tomorrow’s generations around the world. BCD Bioscience will also benefit from senior leadership coaching during a minimum two-day internship at Puratos, and access to Puratos’s R&D capabilities and resources, including sessions at Puratos’s Innovation Centre at its headquarters in Belgium.