Starches
Enhance your products with Ingredion's innovative starch solutions
Starches are essential ingredients in practically all types of food and beverage formulation. Used in sauces, desserts, frozen meals and more, starches provide a number of helpful benefits, including improved texture, thickening capabilities and freeze/thaw stability, among others. Plus, starches are often listed as a clean and simple ingredient on labels.
Derived from a variety of sources such as corn, waxy corn, tapioca, potato and rice, Ingredion starches can fit the bill for cost savings reformulations, clean label claims, and a variety of functional needs so you can maintain premium texture and taste while still addressing consumer preferences for price, ingredient labels and eating experiences.
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Backed by our comprehensive consumer insights and deep-seated expertise in food and sensory science, Ingredion has the winning solutions to ensure your products deliver the perfect texture and unrivaled eating experiences that stand out among the competition. Crispy and crunchy, silky and smooth — and everything in between — we’ve got you covered.
Types of starches
Starches can be further classified by their distinctive properties and functionality. These include functional native starches, modified starches and Ingredion's specialty starches that help manufacturers meet brand nutrition goals such as gluten-free or plant-based products. Explore Ingredion's wide selection of functional, modified and specialty starches that create the perfect formulation for your brands in unique ways.
Functional native starches
Clean labels go hand-in-hand with quality food products. Our clean label functional native starches can be added to simple ingredient listings because they're naturally derived without any chemical modification.
This line of non-GMO and minimally processed starches provides texture and stability in formulations like sauces, soups, and baked goods.
Modified starches
Modified starches are altered to enhance their functional properties and maximize stability both on the shelf and in the freezer.
Depending on the type of food product, benefits can include enhanced thickening, gelling, and freeze-thaw stability.
Additionally, starches are an essential part of creating quality textures, such as consistency and sheen.
Benefits of starches
Ingredion's starch solutions come with a number of benefits within a diverse range of applications.
1. Thickening and binding
Starch acts as a thickening agent that provides viscosity and structure to shelf-stable products like sauces, soups and desserts. At the same time, it enhances texture and consistency, improving mouthfeel and product stability.
2. Freeze/thaw stability
Ready meals and desserts are the highest-selling categories within the frozen food section of grocery stores. Starch is a fundamental ingredient in stabilizing these products by reducing syneresis (water separation) during the thaw process. As a result, the product's texture and appearance are perfectly maintained.
3. Margin management
As a cost-effective ingredient, starch helps optimize production costs. Its versatility keeps brands from needing to invest in multiple specialized ingredients for different product lines. Ultimately, this helps improve margins for the company.
4. Improved food texture
Starch is a food texturant that enhances creaminess, chewiness and smoothness in various products. It improves the product's overall sensory attributes and makes the food more appealing to consumers.
5. Clean and simple labels
Many of Ingredion's starches are minimally processed with recognizable ingredients. That means brands with clean label initiatives can find the right ingredients to proudly display on their ingredient labels. We also carry non-GMO and gluten-free options that appeal to health-conscious consumers.
6. Better nutrition
Using healthy ingredients is important to consumers, and starches can contribute to better nutrition labels. All starches add to higher dietary fiber content in formulations. On top of that, starch is a low-calorie thickening option, allowing brands to create healthier product formulations.
Applications of starches
With so many texture and nutritional benefits, it's no surprise that there is a wealth of starch applications in food and beverage production
Frozen meals: Starch keeps ingredients fresh while stabilizing the freeze/thaw process
Baked goods: Used in desserts and breads, starch improves moisture retention while extending the product's shelf life
Sauces and salad dressings: Starch improves the consistency, viscosity and texture
Dairy products: Starch stabilizes refrigerated products like yogurts and dairy drinks to improve mouthfeel and enhance shine
Low-fat food: Some fats can be replaced with starch to decrease calorie and fat consumption
In addition to brands using starch in food, there are also many applications for industrial starches, including paper, construction materials, herbicides, ceramics, tile grout and more.
Ingredion starch success stories
Ingredion's starch success stories span across product categories in the food industry. Find out how our products increase quality while cutting costs with these starch case studies.
Clean label transformation within existing manufacturing lines
NOVATION(R) 3300 starch perfectly balanced viscosity, creaminess and cost for a global yogurt brand. The new formulation withstood the high processing temperatures in the manufacturer's facilities.
Increased hold time for QSRs and casual dining operators
Ingredion's starch-based texturizers extended the period of crispiness to reduce waste and costs without impacting flavor.
Higher clean label standards for cooked meat without increasing costs
A manufacturer was required to meet increasingly strict clean label requirements from a retailer. With Ingredion's PURITY(R) Alpha 805 starch, the manufacturer met the new standard while saving 20% on recipe costs.
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