Starch: The Talented Player of Clean-Label Development

Clean-label reformulation continues to be one of the most important drivers of innovation in the food industry. Consumers increasingly prefer products with recognizable ingredients and shorter ingredient declarations, while manufacturers must still deliver the texture, stability, appearance and shelf life expected from modern food products.

These market demands have renewed interest in starch, one of the most versatile tools available to food developers. Traditionally, modified starches have been used to provide viscosity control, stability, water binding and process tolerance. However, in clean-label concepts, chemically modified starches are often avoided or restricted.

As a result, the industry is seeking alternative ways to achieve comparable performance while maintaining simple ingredient declarations. One of the most promising approaches is the use of extrusion technology to modify starch using only heat, moisture and mechanical energy.

Clean Label: A Functionality Challenge

Clean-label products are no longer a niche segment. Across numerous food categories, manufacturers are looking for solutions that combine simple ingredient lists with high technical performance.

Addressing this challenge requires both ingredient expertise and process innovation. Founded in 1919, Royal Avebe has more than a century of experience in potato starch production and processing. Today, the cooperative of approximately 2,000 farmers in the Netherlands and Germany combines this heritage with advanced research at its Innovation Center in Groningen, where multidisciplinary teams develop next-generation starch solutions for food and industrial applications.

While ingredient lists may become shorter, expectations for texture, stability and overall product quality remain unchanged. Sauces must remain stable, dairy alternatives require a pleasant mouthfeel, and bakery products demand carefully controlled rheology. These expectations have intensified interest in technologies capable of creating performance through physical processing rather than chemical modification.

Extrusion: More Than a Processing Technology

Extrusion is widely known for food applications such as breakfast cereals, snacks and texturized proteins. From a technological perspective, however, it is fundamentally a thermomechanical process in which raw materials are subjected simultaneously to heat, pressure, moisture and shear forces.

Inside an extruder, one or more rotating screws transport material through a barrel towards a die. During this journey, the material experiences intensive mixing and mechanical stress, resulting in structural transformations that can be controlled through parameters such as screw speed, moisture content, temperature profile and specific mechanical energy input.

The Talent of Starch

Starch is often perceived as a simple ingredient, yet its functionality is largely hidden within a remarkably complex molecular structure. Much like Michelangelo's Prigioni sculptures, where figures emerge from a block of marble, the technological potential of starch can be revealed through carefully controlled processing conditions. Different starch sources offer distinct possibilities depending on their molecular composition and structure.

Two major components determine starch behavior:

• Amylose, a mostly linear glucose polymer.

• Amylopectin, a highly branched glucose polymer.

Different botanical sources contain different amylose-to-amylopectin ratios and exhibit distinct granular structures. These differences strongly influence how starch responds during processing.

For example, waxy potato starch consists almost entirely of amylopectin, while conventional potato starch contains approximately 20% amylose. These structural differences create very different opportunities for developing ingredient performance through extrusion.

Importantly, extrusion does not simply destroy starch structures. When carefully controlled, it allows developers to reshape them, creating molecular architectures with targeted rheological and functional properties.

Controlled Molecular Structure Transformation

A key advantage of extrusion is the ability to precisely control molecular structure transformation.

During processing, starch granules lose their native organization and polymer chains are partially degraded. The extent of this transformation depends on factors such as moisture level, temperature and energy input.

Compared with traditional modification methods, this approach offers several advantages:

• Rapid processing times measured in seconds rather than hours.

• Lower water requirements.

• Excellent process controllability.

• Compatibility with clean-label requirements.

Unlike more aggressive chemical routes, extrusion can preserve valuable molecular features while creating new ingredient properties. By selecting the right starch source and processing conditions, manufacturers can obtain products with tailored molecular weight distributions and predictable performance.

Sustainability Benefits

The advantages of starch modification through extrusion are not limited to ingredient declaration.

Processing routes based primarily on mechanical energy and moisture can reduce dependence on chemical reagents and associated treatment steps. In many cases, water consumption and process complexity can also be reduced, while targeted performance can be achieved with fewer processing aids.

From a broader sustainability perspective, this aligns well with the increasing demand for resource-efficient ingredient production. More broadly, these developments demonstrate how renewable agricultural raw materials can be converted into high-performance ingredients using increasingly resource-efficient production methods.

From Research to Innovation

Research at Avebe's Innovation Center in Groningen has shown how tailored extrusion processes can create starch ingredients with unique performance characteristics. Several of these developments have recently led to final applications, demonstrating how advances in starch science can be translated into practical solutions for both food and industrial applications.

Looking Ahead

The future of clean-label innovation will require ingredients that satisfy both consumer expectations and demanding technical requirements. Few ingredients are as well positioned as starch to meet these evolving needs.

Its natural diversity, combined with modern process technology, offers opportunities to tailor texture, rheology and product performance across a broad range of applications.

As understanding of starch structure and processing continues to advance, extrusion is likely to play an increasingly important role in the development of the next generation of clean-label ingredients. By combining renewable raw materials, advanced processing technologies and deeper scientific insight, the industry can continue to develop solutions that bring together functionality, sustainability and consumer acceptance.