Brand Creates Wheat-Based Binders For Vegan Meat That's Free From E-Numbers

Plant-based brand Loryma has developed an alternative to the popular binder methylcellulose.

Loryma – a brand owned by Germany’s Crespel & Deiters Group – produces “wheat-based raw materials” for use in various food products, including vegan and vegetarian meat. The new ingredient joins the existing Lory Bind portfolio, and the brand says it has a wide range of applications in hot and cold vegan products of all kinds.

Manufacturers can incorporate various ratios of texturates and the new ingredient to replicate nuggets, schnitzels, salami, fish, and other traditional animal-based foods with greater textural and nutritional accuracy, and shortened ingredient lists.

“This new Lory Bind variant marks another milestone in the development of clean label binders for the vegan food industry,” said Loryma’s Head of R&D Norbert Klein, as reported by Food Ingredients First. “This solution not only aligns with consumer expectations but also supports manufacturers in producing plant-based products entirely free from e-numbers.”

Harmful or not, plant-based brands move away from processed ingredients

Loryma Loryma has created a wheat-based binder

Plant-based meat is currently under significant scrutiny for its ultra-processed ingredients.

Methylcellulose is a cellulose-based compound that is non-toxic but cannot be digested. It is used in a wide variety of household products and foodstuffs – including plant-based meat – in very low quantities. (Meat analogs typically contain less than two percent methylcellulose.)

While methylcellulose is generally considered harmless, Loryma is not the only brand seeking to set itself apart by emphasizing fewer ingredients and effective nutrition.

Planted, Edonia, Rival Foods, and Pacifico Biolabs use microalgae, precision fermentation, proprietary shear cell technology, and mycelium, respectively, to produce meaty, nutrient-dense plant-based proteins with minimal additives.

Planted co-founder Pascal Bieri previously described the brand’s vegan steak as a “game-changer.”

“No other plant-based steak on the market uses only natural ingredients, zero additives, and displays features such as juiciness as well as tenderness,” he added.