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Palsgaard’s new Shanghai centre responds to changing Chinese environment

12 Sep 2017

Palsgaard’s new Shanghai centre responds to Chinese food manufacturers feeling the pressure of consumer and regulatory emphasis on healthier, safer and more sustainable products.

Chinese food manufacturers feeling the pressure of consumer and regulatory emphasis on healthier, safer and more sustainable products are responding by turning to sustainable ingredient producers such as Palsgaard, the company says. The emulsifier specialist with production around the globe says it placed its bets on growing consumer demand for a ‘greener’, healthier future decades ago, and Palsgaard customers in China and beyond are now reaping the benefits of those investments.

Emulsifiers make up only a very small part of the ingredients list for a great variety of foods – from baked goods to ice cream, chocolate, dairy and margarine – but they play a huge role in ensuring product quality – the company notes, claiming that no one knows more about emulsifiers than Palsgaard. Since 1917, when founder Einar Viggo Schou invented the modern food emulsifier, the company says it has created hundreds of different specialised emulsifiers and perfected their use in many applications.

Palsgaard’s new Shanghai centre, opened at an official ceremony in the last few days, includes a fully equipped bakery where the company’s bakery application specialists can help customers test and develop new recipes for cake mixes based on the company’s Emulpals and Palsgaard SA ranges. These powdered emulsifiers are said to be very easy to work with, and can be used for aerated and non-aerated cakes in bakers’ mixes, retail mixes and industrial cakes. They are claimed to offer the versatility, uniformity and robustness required by each type of cake and production process – as well as the right aeration, moisture control, crumb structure and health profile.

The new bakery also includes facilities for producing cake gels based on Palsgaard’s emulsifiers and allows manufacturers to test the effect of their cake gels on site.

New ice cream application facilities are also in place at the Shanghai centre, enabling Palsgaard specialists to help customers incorporate highly functional emulsifier/stabilizer systems in ice creams to achieve just the right mouth-feel, creaminess, melt-down properties and fat content. Additionally, the centre can, says the company, help to protect products against the effects of heat shock, which is becoming a focal point for ice cream manufacturers keen to maintain quality once the product leaves the factory.

“Palsgaard has been offering application service to its customers via centres in Denmark, Mexico and Singapore for decades and, as it plays a big part in how we can support our customers, we are thrilled to be able to offer this service to customers in China as well,” said Calin Shi, managing director of Palsgaard China. “With our global set-up, our application specialists can easily exchange ideas with their counterparts on the other side of the world, using trends from Europe and the Americas to come up with new ideas for customers.”