Innovative Cereal Systems® Formula
Innovative Cereal SystemsŪ (ICS) is an Oregon based company that was established in 1996. Specializing in the design and blending of natural micro-ingredients used in the baking industry to improve quality and extend freshness, the company has made impressive inroads to the US and Canadian markets through its innovative approach to the business. By promoting a total service concept that involves the development of a close relationship with clients and assistance in the total baking process, ICS has differentiated itself from the majority of its competitors who are merely interested in selling a product.
ICS prides itself on its "natural" based product range. These products are likened to the "software" in the computer business. ICS micro-ingredients are enzyme based and are produced by a fermentation process. Enzymes, the Greek derivation of the word being "in yeast", have been used in bread manufacture since the ancient Egyptian times. What is new, however; is the precise method and specificity with which they are manufactured in modern times and the wide range of enzymes now available since the commencement of the "bio-science" revolution in the 1980's. The team at ICS has a unique expertise to discover what the baking industry needs and requires, applying their talents in applied product development to rapidly deliver it to the industry. For this reason, the company has now invested in Oregon and established a blending plant which will further speed up the delivery of new product innovation to their current and future customer base. The team at ICS is totally committed to reducing and eliminating all chemical derived additives currently being used in the modern high-speed manufacture of bread. These additives can be seen on the bread label. In eliminating the chemicals and chemically derived products, it is ICS's aim to deliver to the American consumer the experience of a truly natural baked product. The use of an enzyme-based product enhances both flavor and keeping quality of bread. In doing so, it is hoped that American consumers will once again make bread a more substantial part of their diet and thereby, increase consumption of grain products - as recommended of the highly publicized food pyramid. In order to do so, bread must present a "clean image" to the public. Some notable examples of this move to a more natural product are the method and natural alternatives that ICS have pioneered to eliminate the use of the potential carcinogen, potassium bromate. In other areas, such as maintaining breadcrumb softness so that all of the loaf may be consumed before it becomes stale, the industry usually utilizes chemically altered fatty materials such as Monoglycerides, Sodium Steroyl 2, Lactylate, Ethoxylated Monoglycerides, and other compounds. ICS was one of the pioneer companies offering enzyme systems to replace these chemicals in this bread softening area. An enzyme system is a true processing aid as the enzymes are no longer active after baking. The heat utilized during baking totally deactivates the enzyme. All that remains is a non-active small protein adding to the nutritional value to the product, albeit the quantity is very small.
One of the areas that ICS focuses on in addition to providing a micro-ingredient product is the entire baking process. One of the major components of this is the baking time in the over for bread. Through the use of superior technology, which was pioneered by ICS, the team is able to analyze the heat profile of an oven and a product being baked using a technology that had previously not been utilized in the baking industry. In doing so, the ICS team is able to optimize temperature settings and bake times and thereby dramatically improve efficiency of ovens. This coupled with ICS's total bakery quality system, impacts the environment in terms of fuel savings, and lower emissions. One example of a successful project reduced the bake time in one oven by 20%. This project took 9 months to complete to this stage, and work is continuing with further efficiency and quality gains expected. |
