IR Filip Arnaut 
Jacques Georis 
IR Ingrid van Haesendonck 

Puracor NV is the co-ordination centre of the Puratos Group and will act as its representative in this project. Puratos group is a worldwide leader of ingredients for bakery and pastry. It is also producing chocolate for professional usage. Puratos group employs over 4000 people and has activities in more than 100 countries. Headquarters of the Puratos group are in Groot-Bijgaarden Belgium where also Puracor NV is situated. Puratos Group is unique due to its vertical integration: it produces its own enzymes, emulsifiers, bioflavours and yeast. To sustain these activities and its core activities (bakery and pastry ingredients and mixes and chocolate) Puratos Group invests in research. Two levels of research are in place: the long term research lab (attached to the Puratos Group co-ordination centre Puracor) and the applied research lab (attached to the different business units). Puratos Group has a long standing record of innovations in its core activities and is since 1996 sustaining its innovations by patenting. The research lab works with major universities and competence centres in Belgium, throughout Europe and in the US. The internal research teams have highly skilled researchers in baking science and technology. The labs have small scale up to pilot scale bakery equipment. Due to its worldwide presence Puratos Group has extensive knowledge of bakery and pasty applications worldwide and of the quality parameters in demand by the consumers. A core competence is enzyme functionality and production and extensive knowledge of the functionality of enzymes on wheat components. Sensorial analysis, emulsifier functionality and production and fermentation technology are other important competences of the research teams.

In assessment of cereal products by descriptive profiling (accreditation status). A computerised data collection system is routinely used. GC and HPLC are used for analysis of bioactive compounds.

Through Puracor, Puratos group is involved in a lot of collaborative research programs in many different countries. Puratos Group was also involved in Framework 5 research programs (glucomannan, EUROFUND, PELAS). Puratos Group has been co-organizing scientific symposia such as last years Sourdough symposium in Brussels.

Website: http://www.puratos.com/