“Pulses represent a highly valuable and sustainable food ingredient. With established technology know-how and state of the art application centers, Bühler helps its customers to develop innovative, convenient and tasty pulses-based products to cater present and future consumer trends.”

Alexandra Londoño Baderschneider Strategic Business Development Manager Milling Solutions, Bühler To stay competitive in the food industry, it is vital to take the three major consumer trends into consideration. Firstly, the aspect “health” is at the top of consumer’s minds. However, in comparison with the past – today this aspect encompasses much more than dieting. The awareness of food as a vehicle for wellbeing is establishing. Today, people are seeking functional food – which beyond satiating, should also deliver benefits fostering health. Therefore, claims in the field of “good for you”, supporting cardiovascular- or gut health have found a big market. More recently, protein rich products have been gaining popularity. The healthy aspect also covers the need for natural and allergen free products. People want simple ingredient labels, which provide much more than just nourishment. Secondly, a trend that has been rapidly spreading relates to people’s growing consciousness about sustainability. Consumers want to shop ethical and demand transparency and traceability in the food products they buy. It becomes increasingly important for them to be certain, that their food products are not damaging the environment. Lastly, the trend of seeking convenience will stay, as our busy lifestyles will certainly not slow down in the near future. The food industry is facing a tough trend equation. Is there one major key that accomplishes to satisfy all the above-mentioned consumer needs? Well, the answer is yes and the key is PULSES.

Pulses are part of the legume family and the most common varieties are dried peas, edible beans, lentils and chickpeas. These seed varieties embed diverse nutritious properties and two particular aspects that capitalize their healthy aspect. Pulses have a high amount of fiber: eating one cup of cooked pulses provides more than half the daily-suggested fiber requirement. On top of that, pulses are rich in protein: just a half cup of pulses provides the protein contained in one cup of cereals like rice or corn. Pulses are not perceived as allergic and can be consumed by people with intolerance to gluten. Beyond their health benefits, pulses are environmental–friendly. Pulses enrich the soil they grow on through nitrogen fixation and thus increase soil fertility. Moreover, pulses are efficient water users: the water requirement to grow one kilogram of pulses is about 40 times less than the water requirement to grow one kilogram of beef. Therefore, pulses are one vital key to sustainable protein security. Traditionally pulses have been a central part of nutrition in many countries of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In these regions there are a multitude of dishes based on raw pulses, that need to be smoothed in water over a whole night and cooked between one and two hours before being ready for consumption. However, Bühler has been able to bridge the gap between the innate inconvenient factor of pulses and the fact that contemporary consumers are looking for innovative and convenient food products. From efficient cleaning, sorting, de-hulling and splitting through to grinding and further value added processes such as roasting and extrusion for pasta and snacks, Bühler is able to provide entire technology solutions for processing pulses.

To sum up, pulses represent a highly valuable and sustainable food ingredient. With established technology know-how and state of the art application centers, Bühler helps its customers to develop innovative, convenient and tasty pulses-based products to cater present and future consumer trends. If you are interested to find out more about Bühler competences in pulses processing technology, please contact pulses@buhlergroup.com