Puratos opened its new Flour Competence Center on June 15. It is a space dedicated exclusively to flour analysis, the interpretation of variations and application guidance. It is located at the company’s headquarters in Groot-Bijgaarden, Belgium. Equipped with advanced analytical equipment, the new center can help translate complex flour variability into practical insights, with the help of R&D experts.
Flour variability is caused by inconsistencies in crops, due to changing climate conditions, agricultural practices and global supply dynamics. Inconsistency and quality fluctuations can directly impact flour’s process stability and final product quality. Even small variations in key parameters such as protein content, enzyme activity, water absorption, or moisture levels can significantly affect dough behavior, fermentation and finished product characteristics. “With no two wheat harvests the same, there is a growing need for deeper flour understanding and more predictive, data-driven solutions,” Puratos observes.
The new center will lead a series of targeted research initiatives to address these challenges. Its team will be studying here the evolution of crops and their impact on bakery and patisserie products, identifying new ingredients to stabilize flour quality, evaluating the performance of regenerative flour in finished products and advancing next-generation flour analysis.
The new Flour Competence Center is digitally connected to a network of flour laboratories around the world. This allows Puratos to combine global data with local expertise, building a comprehensive understanding of flour behavior while delivering solutions tailored to regional crop conditions and customer needs. Taking a “glocal” approach ensures insights remain both scalable and relevant across different markets and production environments.
“Flour forms the base of most bakery recipes, yet it is one of the most complex and variable raw materials in the industry,” comments Paul Baisier, Chief R&D Officer at Puratos. “With our new Flour Competence Center, we leverage global data, advanced analytics, and GenAI-driven predictive modelling to better understand and anticipate flour variability, translating insights into practical solutions for our customers. This capability becomes critical as the shift toward regenerative agriculture increases raw material variability, and it enables us to support customers more proactively in adapting processes, maintaining consistent quality, and translating variability into new sources of value.”
The center will also support collaboration across the value chain, strengthening internal expertise, engaging with customers and partners and contributing to ongoing advancements in flour science. As the industry continues its move toward more sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices – often associated with increased raw material
Puratos will use the insights generated at the new center to develop bakery improvers and sourdough as well as its patisserie mixes.
Photo: Puratos