Foxhol/Gasselternijveen, 5 December 2007 – Today, the Dutch Secretary of State for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Gerda Verburg, opened the new factory of Solanic, part of the potato starch group Avebe.
In her opening speech, Secretary of State Verburg set out her vision of biorefinery and the important role played by AVEBE in that area. The Secretary of State praised AVEBE for the innovative course it set some years ago and which is gaining increasingly clear results. "Solanic fits perfectly within the image of a biobased economy. An image of a green economy in which national and international companies use green raw products to manufacture nonfood as well as food applications". That makes Solanic even more interesting, because it can now produce large quantities of proteins with the same hectares of potatoes from which only starch used to be extracted. I have been given to understand that these proteins can partly replace animal proteins, which can meet the growing demand for a food package containing more animal protein", said Gerda Verburg.
The versatile nature of AVEBE’s proteins makes an innovative contribution to a wide range of food products. Years of intensive research enabled AVEBE to develop a patented technology for isolating highquality proteins from potatoes.
Following the official opening by the Secretary of State, the Ambassador to India, Mrs Neelam D. Sabharwal, underlined the excellent relations between the Dutch and Indian business communities, illustrated by the fact that Solanic commissioned a factory in India to produce one of the most important processing units.
The factory offers AVEBE and Solanic the opportunity to obtain the vegetable proteins from the residual flows with an economically viable and highquality method. The different protein fractions, each with their unique functional and nutritional property, will be available to food manufacturers as of today and to the pharmaceutical industry at a later stage.
The unique protein properties afforded AVEBE and Solanic a nomination for the “Fi Most Innovative Food Ingredients Awards 2007”, a muchrespected award for innovative projects in the area of food ingredients. The strong interest expressed by food manufacturers in the Solanic proteins confirms AVEBE’s choice to focus on the development of nutrition ingredients of the starch potato that meet the market’s needs “ health & wellness, texture & taste, natural & safe and fun”.