Lecithin from regionally grown rapeseed not only has cost advantages, it also scores points for availability, quality, functionality, and sustainability.
Said Tom Eggerstedt, Product Manager Rapeseed lecithin, Sternchemie: “In the past, rapeseed was overshadowed by its botanical competitors sunflower and IP soy. But due to supply chain disruptions resulting from the various crises in the past three years, many of our customers have switched to rapeseed lecithin. And not just that – rapeseed stands out as a safe, available, lower priced, and more regional alternative. We get more and more feedback from customers saying that going forward they want to stay with this lecithin source.”
For over 30 years rapeseed lecithin has averaged lower in price than lecithin from other non-GM botanical sources. As a natural product, mostly regionally grown and produced with short transport distances between growers and final customers, rapeseed lecithin also has an attractively low environmental impact.
Added Kira Plake, Technical Product & Application Manager: “With its current quality standards, rapeseed has overcome the critical image it once had. By modifying seed and improvement of production and processing steps, today rapeseed lecithin has reached the same level as lecithin from other botanical sources. Undesirable erucic acid long ago stopped playing any role in cultivated rapeseed varieties.”
Purely functionally, rapeseed lecithin is comparable to soy and sunflower lecithin, and therefore a very good GMO-free and allergen-free alternative.
Continued Plake: “Through continuous research in the area of product applications we are now able to use rapeseed lecithin in almost all applications with the highest degree of functionality.”
Accordingly, in addition to IP soy and sunflower lecithin, Sternchemie offers an extensive line of rapeseed lecithin specialties, ranging from the standard liquid product to pure lecithin powder to sprayable and powdery compounds.
Concluded Eggerstedt: “It is our mission to manage the challenges on the ingredient markets with our product, process, and applications expertise, while always meeting customer needs.
Thanks to our wide network on the commodity market, we can anticipate and address crises and bottlenecks proactively. Sternchemie also offers individual consulting, as Plake notes: “In the current market context quality can vary greatly, and the customer is not always in a position to assess it. We can help with our product knowledge and application experience. We have always focused on quality and functionality in sourcing for our customers.” For more visit sternchemie.de
