Royal Avebe is partnering with Food Matters Live in a series of new podcast episodes about the amazing history, versatility, and untapped potential of the humble potato. The potato plays a huge role in the global food industry and has been a core ingredient in many of our diets for centuries, but there’s a lot more to the potato than at first meets the eye…
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As more and more of us turn to a plant-based diet, the challenges the sector faces continue to come into sharper focus. Some of the biggest challenges are creating plant-based meat products with great appearance, texture, flavour and mouthfeel.
Our Royal Avebe experts, Akkelien Vermüe and Jaap Harkema, join host and BBC presenter Stefan Gates to tackle the burning question: Can we find the answer to these challenges in a surprising place – inside starch potatoes?
At Royal Avebe we know the enormous potential of the potato. Potato proteins, starches and fibres are fast becoming the ideal, versatile ingredients, helping meet the demands of the growing plant-based, clean label revolution. From perfectly textured plant-based hotdogs to deliciously creamy dairy-free desserts, potato proteins and starches are impressively adaptable and 100% natural. This means they’re GMO and e-number free; the perfect plant-based alternative to many meat, dairy and gelatin products.
Listen to the episodeAkkelien has over 25 years’ experience within strategic, trade, and consumer marketing, brand, category and product management. She has worked for A-brands vs private labels, within retail and foodservice channels, with national and international oriented companies.
Akkelien is an insight-oriented manager with a commercial drive and background. She adopts a consumer-centric approach and likes to translate trends, developments and data into strategic opportunities and tactical options.
Born in Maastricht in the Netherlands, Jaap graduated from Wageningen University (Food Technology) in 1988. He has worked at Avebe for more than 25 years and is a Marketing and Innovation specialist in the B2B food market. Jaap has international experience and has spoken at various food ingredient courses and conferences. He has a long track record in launching new innovative specialty concepts to the market. Some examples include waxy potato starch, Perfectasol™ texture solutions for plant-based foods and potato protein.
Jaap’s passion is pioneering with innovative food ingredients: Believe in the potential of your innovation and you will find a market when you listen to your prospects and customers carefully!
Starting life as Table Talk back in 2019, the Food Matters Live podcast tackles the big issues facing the food and drinks industry. Providing insightful and thought-provoking conversations with leading professionals, scientists and academic experts, the podcast boasts over 7,500 industry listeners from over 70 different countries across the globe.
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