Unleashing sensory and functional benefits to create new ingredients

At ofi, we are passionate about developing new ingredients and processing technologies to achieve the best quality combined with the lowest footprint.

Male factory worker in protective gear pouring liquid into industrial mixer

Two plates filled with nuts and chocolate condiments with a glass of milk on the side

Ingredient Functionality

Ingredient functionality, for us, is all about understanding what our ingredients add to the food matrix, in terms of their physical and chemical functionalities.  Agricultural products, by definition, are natural and will always have a slight degree of variance. Origin and growth process combined with post-harvest processing will help determine the functionality of our raw materials and our ingredients. Knowing that, we think alongside our customers about how they can best incorporate our ingredients in their end-applications and help them make their ideas and ambitions for new products real.

Two people smiling and looking at red cascara samples

Natural & Clean Label

Winning the battle for market share starts with meeting our customer’s needs for great tasting, great looking products with an optimal mouthfeel. But great taste, snap and bite, with an appealing product color, do not always match the increasing consumer desire for fewer additives in their food products. This is why we are always looking for opportunities to develop natural ingredients without the use of additives to suit clean label applications. Our nut ingredients deliver incredible texture, taste and nutrition without any complex artificial ingredients.

Several natural ingredients across our portfolio can help you recover missing elements like color and flavor. Take our spices – they can help formulators create a realistic, meat-like color in plant-based alternatives, all while maintaining a clean-label and adding to the overall flavor profile. And then there is cocoa. Cocoa powder can be used as a coloring agent in vegetarian/vegan products: deZaan Fresco Cacao F11FR is a non-bitter, mild cocoa powder that can be used to create fresh chocolate plant-based yogurts.

Another example is the development of our “TrueDark” cocoa powder, whilst staying away from color enhancing additives. And there is more. How we do it? If you work with us, we will share our darkest secrets!

Lab technician standing in front of a machine

Health, Nutrition & Wellbeing Benefits

Across our portfolio, health and nutrition benefits – both long-standing and emerging – are a common denominator. The nutritional value of our nuts, the macro and micronutrients of dairy, the theobromine and antioxidants in cocoa and the health associations of many spices really form a wealth of opportunities for our customers.  We are always looking to see how these benefits can be protected and enhanced during the manufacturing process, whilst still tasting great.

Valorization  & Upcycling 

With the world’s resources under pressure, we seek to get everything we can from our raw materials. Not only to create value for our farmers, but also to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. This often uncovers new and exciting opportunities. Our sweet and fruity cascara for instance, was developed out of coffee husks, which is the skin and pulp of the coffee cherry fruit. The ingredient is now used for beverage infusions and concentrates across multiple applications to meet the growing trend for healthy indulgence.

Ingredient Functionality

Natural & Clean Label

Health, Nutrition & Wellbeing Benefits

Valorization  & Upcycling 

Read ofi news

Press Release Dec 19, 2024

ofi's cocoa business ‘raises regenerative agriculture ambition’ with new 2030 targets

ofi (olam food ingredients), a global leader in naturally good food and beverage ingredients and food solutions, is further enhancing efforts to tackle deforestation and drive regenerative agriculture by achieving seven landscape partnerships and bringing over a million hectares under regenerative agriculture by 2030.

These new targets align with ofi’s company-wide Choices for Change strategy and will be further boosted by the cocoa business’ tree carbon stock target of 15 million trees by 2030, converting as many farms as possible to agroforestry.

This announcement coincides with the release of ofi’s 2023 Cocoa Compass Impact Report, which shares the latest sustainability progress from across its cocoa supply chain and builds on the steps taken to protect and restore cocoa landscapes.

Regenerative agriculture highlights since the launch of the Cocoa Compass in 2018 include:

8.9 million trees distributed for agroforestry programs by ofi cocoa, working with customers and partners
57,000 hectares of land rehabilitated globally
970,000 farmers trained in Good Agricultural Practices

Articles Dec 5, 2024

Partnerships for more inclusive coffee communities

Promoting gender equality and inclusion has always been a core component of ofi’s sustainability programs to help women and other underrepresented groups realize their potential. Our approach is centred around identifying opportunities for better inclusion of women and youth in farming communities and providing tailored support designed to build confidence, motivation and financial autonomy.

This is why, as part of our Coffee LENS ambition we’ve set dedicated targets to deliver livelihood support to 60,000 women and 15,000 youth by 2030. Our origin teams are running impactful partnerships with our customers to create positive change in coffee communities and deliver our mutual goals.

Articles Dec 5, 2024

A living landscape partnership promoting sustainable forest management in Côte d’Ivoire

The Cavally region in Côte d’Ivoire, one of the country’s main forested areas and home to protected areas such as the Taï National Park (UNESCO), has lost more than 80% of its forest cover in the last decades which has been mainly attributed to coffee and cocoa production. In January 2023, ofi launched a three-year ‘Sustainable Forest Management’ program with IDH and customer JDE Peets, to conserve forest resources and promote sustainable coffee production in the region, referred to as the “ecological lung of Côte d’Ivoire” by the 4th vice-president of the Cavally Regional Council. At a time when coffee production is reviving in the region in response to higher global prices, the partnership is working to reduce pressure on the Taï National Park and Cavally nature reserve while improving incomes in the surrounding communities.

“At JDE Peet’s, we are committed to fostering a sustainable future for coffee by embracing origin diversity and strengthening our footprint in Africa. This project in the Cavally region is a significant step towards protecting vital ecosystems like the Taï National Park while promoting sustainable coffee production. By working together with our partners, we aim to create an environment where both nature and communities can thrive for generations to come.” - Judith de Boer, Global Green Coffee Partnership Program Lead, JDE Peet’s

The partnership is focused on sustainable agricultural production and social inclusion and in its first year delivered:

25,000 shade trees to mark farm boundaries, reforestation and creation of agroforestry systems.
Training to ~3,400 farmers on good agricultural practices integrated farm management, water protection, ecosystem conservation, and forest protection through 18 ‘trained trainers’
52 forest stewards from trained youths to contribute to the protection and preservation of the classified forest through patrols
Entrepreneurial opportunities for 750 women through establishing 20 Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) and training on creating biochar from cherry husks for additional income and firewood replacement
950,000 coffee saplings distributed to 2,800 farmers to contribute to the renewal of aging coffee farms.

“The main objective of the project is to ensure that the revival of coffee production in the Cavally region does not come at the expense of the forest cover and sustainable development, as it happened in the past. We are particularly delighted that this resonates with a partner like ofi ” - Matthew Spencer, IDH Global Director, Landscapes

This project is contributing to ofi’s overarching target to establish 20 living landscape partnerships across our global supply chains by 2030, with 6 of these established in coffee supply chains, as set out in our Coffee LENS strategy.