Carob pods for taste and nutrition

Carob is a nutritious and tasty powder that can be made fresh using ripe carob pods. The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) grows all over the world in arid dry locations and is a very desirable species for permaculture design. Learn about some of its nutritional components as well as the different types and how they are processed.

As seen on YouTube, from SuperfoodEvolution, an interesting post about the use of Carob other than for the production of Locust Bean Gum.

Unipektin Ingredients AG as your supplier and partner feels obliged to keep their customers informed about critical developments affecting the supply situation so that together we can make informed decisions and find the right solution for you.

Since our last month’s market update, the raw material situation has continued to deteriorate, while seeds are available their price has further increased to a new historically high level. This is paired with a very high and further growing demand for LBG.

Our prediction for the short-term LBG market situation is that there is no easement in price to be expected for the next 6 months, the next seed crop is too far away and there are no predictions possible yet.

Demand for our LBG / VIDOGUM L is soaring which forces us to carefully plan and sometimes restrict our sales and shipment. This, however, is only caused by production capacity limits. Availability of VIDOGUM L is secured, our factory runs at full capacity and will do so for the foreseeable future.

Now is a good time to consider switching to alternative recipes based on VIDOGUM L combined with other gums. UPI has successfully developed and introduced such systems during the past price peaks and optimized them further in light of the expected market development. These products can give the LBG users a valid technical and commercial option, reducing their dependence on LBG.

• VIDOGUM SP: tara gum with similar viscosity to VIDOGUM L.
• VIDOGUM LB series: LBG + tara gum, for various applications.
• VIDOGUM LS series: LBG + neutral flavour guar gum, specifically developed and standardized for dairy applications.

If you are interested to discuss the current Market Update and our recommendations, please contact us by email at info-unipektin@nexira.com or call us.

In our yesterday’s News blog we informed that the members of the Swiss Fruit Association have been confirmed as a supply relevant business. UNIPEKTIN has been a member of this association for many years.

Today we can confirm that the Swiss Federal Office for Economic Supply now also and more importantly has directly confirmed UNIPEKTIN to be a supply relevant business during the COVID-19 crisis. We, therefore, will continue to operate normally. The official confirmation letter from the Swiss Federal Office for Economic Supply (in the German, French and Italian languages) can be downloaded using the button below.

English Translation:

The Swiss Federal Office for Economic Supply confirms that your company is a systemically relevant, essential businesses to supply the country with vital goods and services. The employees of your company provide services within the meaning of the Country Supply Act, essential for Switzerland’s supply. This is particularly true in association with the overcoming of the current coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Office for Economic Supply confirms its interest in maintaining these businesses. It is of great importance for the economic supply of the country that your employees not be restricted in the exercise of their work.

In this context, we reiterate our concern that the necessary freedom of movement of your workers (access to production facilities, plants, construction sites, etc.) continues to be guaranteed.

In addition, we support the concerns of supply-relevant companies and their employees that applications for special permits for the transport of goods and the mobility of cross-border commuters, are judged favourably in accordance with the applicable trade agreements and by foreign authorities.

Dear valued customers:

We are glad to inform you that we operate normally and are in contact with our suppliers regularly. We do not face major operational problems except for minor shipping delays due to container shortage and until now our raw material deliveries have not been significantly affected.

As an important part of the supply chain of the food industry, we are happy to confirm that we have been identified as an ‘essential business’ by the Swiss government agency for the Covid-19 crisis. We, therefore, will continue to operate during the lockdown while trying to minimize the impact of outside and out-of-our-control influences.

We will inform you immediately if the situation changes or problems are to be expected.

To receive updates and news regularly and instantly after release please subscribe to our newsletter service (see ribbon on the right).

Unipektin Ingredients AG as your supplier and partner feels obliged to keep their customers informed about critical developments affecting the supply situation so that together we can make informed decisions and find the right solution for you.

Since our last market update from January 2020, the raw material prices have increased again and are now at a historically high level. This is paired with an increasing and very high demand for LBG if not most hydrocolloids which could well be co-caused by the Covid-19 pandemic as IMR in their latest Hydrocolloid Tidbits suspect….

…”we find ourselves wondering how the global catastrophe of Covid-19 will impact the world of hydrocolloids. Will people consume more prepared foods or spend more of the home quarantine time in the kitchen preparing home-cooked food? Will they consume more indulgent foods like ice cream, sweets, and snacks all of which are key hydrocolloid applications? Will there be a stronger trend away from animal products or the reverse? Will organic, GMO-free, clean-label become less relevant in this life or death Covid world? One of the least affected food sectors may well be pet food. Pets do not eat much in restaurants or drink in bars. Undoubtedly there has been a spike in demand for all forms of non-perishable foods, pasta, canned and frozen goods. Many if not all supermarket shelves are sparse or bare of these types of food. Hydrocolloid suppliers are seeing a spike in demand if for no other reason than inventory building. It is not the production and availability of hydrocolloids that is the bottleneck. It is transportation, financial liquidity and cross-border restrictions that are causing the most trouble. Some countries, Hungary for one, have closed borders to human traffic but the net result has been a halt also to commercial traffic. Heightening US/China trade and diplomatic tensions will not help.”

Our prediction for the short-term LBG market situation is that there is no easement in price to be expected for the next 6 months. Demand for LBG / VIDOGUM L has soared which forces us to carefully plan and sometimes even restrict the quantity of our sales. This, however, is only caused by production capacity limits and not by a shortage of raw material. Availability of VIDOGUM L is secured, our factory runs at full capacity and will do so for the foreseeable future.

Now would probably a good time to consider switching to alternative recipes based on VIDOGUM L combined with other gums. UPI has successfully developed and introduced such systems during the past price peaks and optimized them further in light of the expected market development. These products can give the LBG users a valid technical and commercial option, reducing their dependence on LBG.

• VIDOGUM LS series: LBG + neutral flavour guar gum, specifically developed and standardized for dairy applications.
• VIDOGUM LB series: LBG + tara gum, for various applications.
• VIDOGUM SP: tara gum with similar viscosity to VIDOGUM L.

If you are interested to discuss the current Market Update and our recommendations, please contact us by email at info-unipektin@nexira.com or call us.

Dear customers and distribution partners of UNIPEKTIN Ingredients AG,

In these difficult and hectic times, it is of utmost importance to keep our customers and distributors informed and up-to-date about changes in our company, our proceedings, changes and the actions we take.

Since about the middle of last year, we have revamped and expanded our website www.unipektin.ch continuously and quite substantially, we have added a lot more information on our products and services, and particularly we have increased the frequency of our blogs and news significantly, making the website a strategic tool and information carrier.

We now have added the possibility for website visitors to subscribe to our newsletters and emails informing them when new blogs, news or notifications have been added to the website.

We suggest you subscribe through our website so you will be informed at all times, automatically. Please use the subscription button on the right ribbon below our address details.

UNIPEKTIN is Prioritising Health:
We acknowledge the increasing threat posed by the growing number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus and we are taking measures to mitigate the potential risk of transmission to our employees and our customers. We follow the evolution of the situation globally and adapt our procedures and the functioning of our company as and when decisions are announced by the Government.

Today, our actions target the minimization of the risk of transmission to ensure that our employees and customers are safe. We have made a temporary supplement to our operational regulations for the Eschenz site, limiting the number of persons allowed simultaneously in the canteen, at the coffee machine, the smoker room etc. We also have changed the table layout in the canteen to separate single tables with only one person allowed per table.

We are limiting visitors and postponing non-urgent meetings at our offices and we recommend teleconference or video conference meetings wherever possible. Any non-essential business meetings that cannot be rescheduled as virtual sessions should be held off-site or postponed until further notice. Any approved business-critical visitor must be asked by phone or email in advance to ensure certain risk factors are eliminated. They must answer NO to all of the below questions and visit our office the same day or the following day.

• Any symptoms of illness e.g. fever, mild cough or respiratory sickness?
• International travel the past 14 days?
• Attendance at any large-group event the past 14 days?
• Associated with any person that has the virus or any business that has been closed due to a person with the virus?
• Any contact to person who would answer yes to the above questions?

We are operating as usual and until further notice. Some of our employees work remotely.  We will keep you informed regarding the situation as it evolves.

Questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact us.