TOKYO, Oct. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Teijin Limited announced today that it has agreed with Sonneveld Group B.V., an international food ingredient and product manufacturer specialized in the bakery and pastry sector, to sell Teijin's highly nutritious BARLEYmax™ super barley in Europe.

 

Sonneveld Group is a part of Orkla, a leading industrial investment company with twelve independent suppliers for consumer merchandises such as food, snacks, confectionery, biscuits, healthcare products. Sonneveld Group owns the European Bakery Innovation Centre (EBIC), an open innovation center for the European bakery supply chain including raw material suppliers, bakery equipment manufacturers, bakeries, retail, food service, bakery ingredient producers and European governments.

Utilizing Sonneveld Group's sales channels, Orkla 's groupwide business channels and EBIC's network in the European industry, Teijin aims to encourage local food manufacturers to adopt BARLEYmax™ in place of conventional barley, mainly for use in breads and other healthy food products mainly in Benelux and Scandinavian countries. Going forward, Teijin expects to expand its sales channels in Europe including France and Germany as well as its existing channels in Spain, Portugal and Italy to enhance its presence in the European market for functional food ingredients.

Sonneveld will showcase three BARLEYmax™ breadmix prototypes with Teijin at iba 2023, the world's leading trade fair for the baking and confectionery industry to be held from October 22 to 26 in Munich, Germany. Dr. Peter Weegels, Director of EBIC will make a presentation regarding BARLEYmax™ as the healthy choice and the tasty choice.  

BARLEYmax™ has nearly 40 times more dietary fiber than white rice, compared to just 15 times more for rolled barley. It contains dietary fibers such as fructan, β-glucan and resistant starch, each of which enters the intestine at a different digestive rate to provide food for good bacteria. BARLEYmax™ also contains iron, zinc, niacin and vitamin B6, all typically lacking in modern diets. Furthermore, BARLEYmax™ offers an excellent nutritional balance and contains less sugar than other grains, according to data cited in the Standard Tables of Food Composition, part of the Japanese Food Labeling Standards. BARLEYmax™ had a mild taste, neither bitter nor harsh, and is more savory and sweeter than general barleys. It also is virtually odorless. With so many benefits, it is increasingly being adopted for use in cooked rice, cereals, confectionery and breads in Japan and other parts of Asia as well as in countries of other regions where health consciousness is rising, such as the United States and Australia. BARLEYmax™ was developed in Australia by the national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

In Europe, barley has been popular in history of food culture and widely used in breads and cereals. Based on data from industry reports, research by Teijin indicates that compared to Japan, Europe's barley demand is about 15 times greater for cereals and about 30 times greater for breads. Furthermore, European sales of breads and cereals containing dietary fiber are rising due to increasing health consciousness and demand for high-performance food ingredients rich in dietary fiber.

Given that conventional barley has a distinctive taste that is not to everyone's liking, Teijin is assertive that Europe represents a highly promising market for the abundant dietary fiber, excellent nutritional balance and relatively sweet taste of BARLEYmax™. Backed by the confidence and preliminary researches, Teijin signed an agency contract with Emilio Peña S.A, (EPSA), a Spanish manufacturer, importer and distributor of food additives and ingredients in June 2022 and Garzanti Specialties S.p.A., a historical Italian distributor company active in food ingredients and food supplements in September 2023 to engage BARLEYmax™ in European market. Now BARLEYmax™ is evaluated by several Spanish, Portuguese and Italian food manufacturers for use in breads, cereals and other healthy food products.

About Sonneveld

Sonneveld Group, founded in 1956, is an international company that develops innovative customer-specific solutions for the bakery sector and the closely-related food industry, for and with its customers with which the company adds value to the whole chain and especially to the customer. Sonneveld offers technical support aimed at realizing ideal process, bread and pastry quality, it shares knowledge about bakery processes and ingredients, it develops innovative bread and pastry concepts and it also supports activities that enhance the bakery sector. Sonneveld uses its knowledge and expertise - in terms of producing and supplying ingredients and products, as well as process-related knowledge and market insights - to work with customers on high quality and/or user-friendly products and concepts.

About the Teijin Group

Teijin (TSE: 3401) is a technology-driven global group with two core businesses: high-performance materials and healthcare solutions. Established in 1918 as Japan's first rayon manufacturer, Teijin today comprises some 170 companies employing 20,000 people in 20 countries. Through "Human Chemistry, Human Solutions," Teijin relentlessly strives to aims to be a company that supports the society of the future by protecting the global environment and addressing the needs of people and communities. Teijin posted consolidated sales of JPY 1,018.8 billion (USD 7.6 billion) and total assets of JPY 1,242.4 billion (USD 9.2 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.