Expo West upcycling panel discussion to highlight the sustainability benefits of Chiber™

Chinova Biowork’s Audrey Carpenter will discuss the many advantages of upcycled food and beverage ingredients during what promises to be a compelling panel discussion at next month’s Expo West 2024.  

As one of the most important events in the natural products calendar, Expo West’s educational program is a vital information portal for the industry, underscored by the fact that sessions regularly pack out.   

Audrey will be participating in a panel discussion titled: Tapping into the Upcycling Food Trend: Consumers Impacts and Insights, taking place at 11am – 12 pm, on Friday, March 15th at the Marriott Hotel, Platinum Ballroom 3-4, in Anaheim, California.

Tapping into the Upcycling Food Trend: Consumer Impacts and Insights Seminar at Expo West.

The panel discussion will also comprise Katie Hagan, Executive Vice President, Innovation & Insights at food innovation and development company Mattson, while the moderator will be Mike Bush, Managing Partner at GrowthWays Partners, a provider of  advisory services for companies in the natural products sector. 

Exploring evolving consumer attitudes to sustainability

The panelists will explore the dynamic intersection of consumer demands and behaviors in the context of mounting concerns about the health of the environment, in turn relating how this is playing out within the context of the upcycling food trend. 

While consumers often express an interest in sustainable lifestyles and purchasing choices, industry experts have long observed that this does not always translate into their final purchasing decisions. Upcycled food ingredients are not an exception to this rule, but with growing awareness of the environmental impact purchasing decisions can have, perceptions are evolving.

“Sustainable food ingredients are no longer a new subject to consumers,” said Audrey, speaking ahead of her participation in the discussion.  

“A growing number of consumers are becoming increasingly aware of how the food they purchase can directly impact the environment, and as a consequence, they are looking for eco-friendly and upcycled claims at supermarkets.”

Wellness is now being tied to the health of the planet 

Audrey emphasizes that consumers once equated health and the environment as mutually exclusive, which has now evolved into a different mindset.

“Consumers are saying, ‘I want food that is good for me as well as being good for the planet,’” said Audrey. 

“Growing awareness of the link between sustainability and the environment is helping to sway consumers towards upcycled ingredients. I think the upcycled ingredient movement will continue to expand as more companies adopt the UN Sustainability goals. Hopefully it will gain the same notoriety as recycling programs. Everyone is aware of the need to reduce landfills, but in conjunction, I foresee growing awareness about the pressing problem of food waste and its impact on the climate.”

Chiber as the ultimate in eco-friendly preservatives

Chinova Bioworks is contributing to the upcycled ingredient space with its Chiber Mushroom Fiber Extract, a naturally-derived, clean label preservative that is designed to significantly extend the shelf-life of a broad range of food and beverages, including dairy and non-dairy products, sauces and spreads, and plant-based meats.

Chiber is derived from chitosan fiber extracted from upcycled white button mushroom stems and a patented process is used to isolate the purest form of the fiber that serves to significantly enhance its efficacy. It comes in a ready-to-use liquid that is heat- and shelf-stable while having a marginal acidity of pH 3.8, making it a viable alternative to artificial ingredients such as potassium sorbate.

“Chiber itself would not exist without upcycled ingredients,” said Audrey. “Chiber is a food waste solution that is a natural shelf-life extender, providing a way to reduce food waste at the onset in the supply chain.” 

Ensuring eco-friendly practices every step of the way

Chinova works with mushroom farmers in Atlantic Canada, who are all located near to its processing facility. Having collected the discarded mushroom stems, an eco-friendly, low-energy process is used to produce the ingredient. 

“Our message is full circle: we reduce food waste from the raw material to the final ingredient, providing a food waste solution for food and beverage companies,” said Audrey.

“But the advantages do not end there. The white button mushroom cultivation also has sustainability benefits as it has a lower water usage and overall carbon footprint compared to traditional crops. Chiber is also cost-effective–making it a great alternative to brands wanting to promote sustainability without breaking the bank.”

Mattson highlights the importance of tackling food waste

Represented by Katie Hagan, Mattson’s participation in the panel will also lend significant gravitas to the discussion. Mattson is a leading expert in the burgeoning upcycled food and beverage space, and is committed to tackling the problem of food waste. 

Putting this problem into perspective, in a recent webinar the company highlighted that if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of CO2, behind China and the USA. 

Working alongside Chinova, Mattson conducted a study in conjunction with the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Dairy Science Program to determine the impact that Chiber has on scratch-made yogurt and cream cheese. The study compared how it performed against a selection of other natural and synthetic preservatives, including cultured dextrose. 

The results showed that the samples containing Chiber equaled or outperformed the other preservatives in terms of shelf-life, while a sensory evaluation determined that it had the best overall taste, with no perceptible change in flavor.

Lending a crucial helping hand to the dairy sector

The eternal challenge facing manufacturers of dairy products is that they have relatively short shelf lives, ranging from just a few weeks to a maximum of several months. 

Pointing to the UN’s sustainability initiative to halve the generation of food waste by 2030, Audrey believes this is putting dairy manufacturers under even greater pressure to come up with sustainable solutions to extend product shelf life.

“The yogurt and cream cheese studies conducted by Mattson showed that Chiber considerably extended the shelf life of these products and had the best overall taste,” said Audrey. 

“This means dairy manufacturers that use Chiber have a longer shelf-life without impacting the taste of their products and reduce their food waste throughout the supply chain. It also gives consumers more time to enjoy their foods and means they are less likely to throw them away.”