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VIDOFIBRES BF Sugar Beet Fibres for your Health

New Product Application Bulletin available now, please use the button below to download.

Healthy nutrition and regular exercise are the prerequisites for physical and mental well-being.

If you want to do something for your health, you should first look at your diet. The rule of thumb is ‘less fat, more fibre’. Nutritionists recommend a daily fibre intake of at least 30 g. That’s almost twice as much as an adult eats on average. A simple means of enriching the daily diet with fibre is VIDOFIBRES BF 5 sugar beet fibre.

Regular consumption of VIDOFIBRES BF 5 helps to counteract the increase in cholesterol levels. Fluctuations in blood sugar levels are reduced — an essential factor, especially for people with diabetes. Meals enriched with VIDOFIBRES BF 5 saturate particularly quickly due to the high fibre content and help cope with weight gain problems. Also, the fibres absorb liquid and swell strongly. This prevents constipation, the widespread disease of civilization. VIDOFIBRES BF 5 is naturally gluten-free (<5ppm) and thus offers a valuable contribution to a fibre-rich diet for gluten intolerance. Unlike oats and wheat bran, VIDOFIBRES BF 5 does not affect the absorption of zinc and iron.

With VIDOFIBRES BF 5 (5 times its weight in water binding) the user has the choice between a range of particle sizes from very fine to coarse to un-milled and even rolled flakes.

VIDOFIBRES BF 5 is available in different degrees of fineness.


VIDOFIBRES BF sugar beet fibres in commercial kitchens

New Product Application Bulletin available now.

VIDOFIBRES BF is a pure natural product of the fertile fields of Switzerland. With more than 70 % healthy fibres, approx. 1/4th of which are soluble fibres. VIDOFIBRES BF offers commercial kitchens excellent ways to create texture, thicken and enrich a wide variety of foods with fibre simply and naturally without compromising the original taste or product characteristics.

VIDOFIBRES BF is economical – often, the food becomes even cheaper. VIDOFIBRES BF binds water particularly well. This property is not affected by the preparation method or by freezing or thawing.

The user chooses between VIDOFIBRES BF 5 and BF 10, representing 2 grades in WBC (Water Binding Capacity), and can choose among a range of particle size from very fine to coarse to un-milled, and even rolled flakes.

VIDOFIBRES BF 5 is available in different degrees of fineness.


VIDOFIBRES BF 5 sugar beet fibres in Bakeries

New Product Application Bulletin available now.

Many bakeries, large and small, use VIDOFIBRES BF 5 every day. Sugar Beet Fibre is most commonly used in soft bread production, but even biscuit manufacturers have changed their recipes in favour of VIDOFIBRES BF.

VIDOFIBRES BF 5 enriches your dough with fibres and gives it several positive properties without affecting its characteristic features. VIDOFIBRES BF 5 binds water especially well during normal baking processes: in a dough, approximately 3 – 4 times its own weight. Higher water content makes the bread not drying out as quickly, and it stays fresh longer. Besides, the bread is softer, making it look even fresher. VIDOFIBRES BF 5 is equally suitable for light as well as for dark loaves of bread.

VIDOFIBRES BF 5 is available in different degrees of fineness from fine to coarse to unmilled and even as rolled flakes, all of which are suitable for baking use.


Tara Gum – Market Update March 2021

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

Tara shrubs (Caesalpinia spinosa L.) are wild perennials grown for commercial purposes exclusively in Peru. The fruits, the Tara pods, are collected and threshed on the spot, separating the seeds from the husks. The powder produced from the husks is used for leather tanning.

UNIPEKTIN imports the separated endosperm directly from Peru and processes it into Tara gum using purely physical processes. The active chain-like hydrocolloid molecules belong to the Galactomannan group. The EU approved the use of Tara gum in 1996.

Prices for tara seeds, the raw material for Tara gum, have been relatively low for years but suddenly began to rise in early 2020. Prices for Tara gum followed the upward trend accordingly, as a technologically viable alternative to Locust Bean Gum is linked to the LBG price trend. Since then, Tara gum prices have risen steadily and are now at a historic level.

Also, the supply of raw materials has now become scarce, and delivery times are now very long, affected negatively by the Covid lockdown with a curfew in Peru, causing delays in production and supply in Peru.

Some 15 years ago, we have seen already a big price increase for Tara seeds and Tara gum. Then, like today, it was directly connected to an LBG crisis, but this time, the pandemic makes the situation even worse.

Demand for Tara Powder for technical/non-food uses is also significant and has grown enormously over the past decade. Also, there is a growing interest and demand for Tara protein, a by-product with an interesting amino acid profile. This will certainly positively affect cultivation, as farmers today have a great motivation to extend and add new plantations.

Alternatives for LBG, e.g. Tara gum or LBG/Tara gum systems, which we have promoted and recommended strongly in the past two years and in light of the deteriorating market situation, have now become unviable cause Tara gum is scarcely available right now.

However, there are still other options available to the food industry, and also specifically developed, optimized and standardized for dairy applications and particularly for cream cheese, like e.g. the VIDOGUM LS series: VIDOGUM L + neutral flavour guar gum

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

Locust Bean Gum – Market Update March 2021

UNIPEKTIN Ingredients AG as your supplier and partner feels obliged to inform you about critical developments affecting the supply situation. Together, we can make informed decisions and find the right solution for you.

The problematic and continuously worsening LBG market situation producers and users have faced since the 2017 harvest, motivated us to start 2019 with our regular updates covering the LBG market, supply, and pricing situation. We have since posted 8 market updates between Oct 2019 and October 2020, reporting how the LBG market became more and more irrational and speculative, which, unfortunately, now has culminated in a price crisis, rather than a supply crisis.

The 2020 season harvest that commenced last September was, as expected, on an average level overall. It, however, and expectedly, did not prevent the Carob pods and seed prices, the raw material for LBG, from further increasing significantly, hitting one record high after another.

The major price drivers for LBG are the pod and seed prices and notably, the continuing very strong and further growing demand based on LBG’s specific characteristics and its excellent image as a natural product, which is justified considering the cultivation method and production process.

Pods and seeds are still accessible to LBG manufacturers in sufficient quantities, but now only in smaller lots than usual. Larger contracts, like, e.g. for several 100 metric tons, which were normal, are impossible to secure at present. Existing contracts mostly are fulfilled by the raw material suppliers. Still, there could be significant delays, and there are also reports that LBG producers are sometimes forced to renegotiate in the midst of a valid contract. This may lead to LBG production and delivery delays, the logistical challenges and delays by Covid-19 unconsidered.

Prices for LBG, due to the increasing Carob seed prices, have increased weekly, sometimes even daily, in the past two months. Quotations are now often only valid for 24 hours.

The new season of Carob pod harvest, which usually is available from October each year, is looking very promising so far, so there is hope the market will begin to move in the right direction again. But until then, LBG producers and users will be forced to live with this crisis.

Demand for LBG remains unabated. Alternatives for LBG, e.g. Tara gum or LBG/Tara gum systems, which we have promoted and recommended strongly in the past two years and in light of the deteriorating market situation, have become unviable cause Tara gum is scarcely available right now.

However, there are still other options available to the food industry, and also specifically developed, optimized and standardized for dairy applications and particularly for cream cheese, like e.g. the VIDOGUM LS series: VIDOGUM L + neutral flavour guar gum

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

Application Bulletin: Pastry Cook Jams with HM Pectin and Citrus Fibre

Commercial and technical advantages of using VIDOPECTINE HM Pectin and VIDOFIBRES CF 1525 C instead of LM pectin.

Improvement of Stability, Texture and Pumpability.

Pastry cook jams and fillings (with total soluble solids contents being usually in the range of 65% – 72%) often only need limited, if at all, bake stability. They are generally used after baking as injection jam or filling for sponge rolls etc. However, they mustn’t be too firmly gelled and easy to pump and spread. And their texture and viscosity should not change much during pumping. Only rarely they are baked together with the pastry either by artisan bakeries where there is close supervision of the baking process possible or industrially, in products baked at lower temperatures or only for a very short time, or where the filling is not directly exposed to the heat but insulated by the dough.

Pastry cook jams / baking stable jams made with dedicated bake stable LM pectins need quite a high pectin dosage of 0.8 – 1.0% and some fibrous fruit pulp (e.g. apple pulp) to help the bake stability. With raspberry or strawberry pulp alone, they might be sufficiently pumpable and do not lose much viscosity due to their good reversibility provided by the LM pectin, but they are only very limited bake stable. They are also an expensive solution.

Here VIDOFIBRES CF 1525 C Citrus Fibre can replace the apple pulp, increase the bake stability and improve the texture because it is rich in soluble fibre, mainly high methyl ester pectin. This pectin remains functional and gels at high solids (≥ 58 °Brix) and low pH (≤ 3.3). It also allows for reducing the pectin dosage.

VIDOFIBRES CF 1525 C also allows for the use of HM pectin, and in significantly lower dosages than LM pectin.

New item in our ‘Tools and Helpful Links’ tab. VIDOFIBRES comparison chart.

Our VIDOFIBRES range of plant fibres has quickly become one of the main pillars of our business, we added citrus and recently also carrot fibre to our sugar beet, apple and pear fibres. The VIDOFIBRES product family now complements perfectly our VIDOGUM Galactomannan product range of Locust Bean GumGuar Gum and Tara Gum, the VIDOPECTINE pectin product line, relaunched in 2020, the VIDOGUM PRO carob and tara proteins as well as the VIDOGLACE ice cream stabilisers.

It can be challenging for distributors and customers alike, to stay up-to-date and fully informed about the properties and functional peculiarities of the various VIDOFIBRES on offer.

We, therefore, now added our VIDOFIBRES Portfolio and Comparison Chart to our website, in the ‘Tools and Helpful Links‘ page, to be found in the ‘Applications‘ tab.

Please feel free to download the Vidofibres Comparison Chart from the ‘Tools and Helpful Links page, and keep it handy for your daily use.

Supporting our future sports stars: Joanna Mazzoleni

UNIPEKTIN Ingredients AG wishes to be recognized as a company and employer that cares for the environment and the community in which we live and work. We support, recognize and reward innovation, initiative and leadership of people throughout the organisation and in our community. The commitment to support our younger generation in their development and career is of particular concern to us and allows us to give something back to the community.

UNIPEKTIN is proud to announce the sponsoring and support of one of Switzerland’s promising and upcoming sportspersons, Joanna Mazzoleni, a player in the Volleyball NLA (National League A) for the Club Raiffeissen Volley Toggenburg.

In National League A, the best Swiss national teams compete with each other. In the 2020/2021 season, ten teams will duel for the women, and eight for men. The most successful team in both men and women’s at the end of the season will receive the hotly coveted title of Swiss champion.

Their NLA team did it! For the first time in more than 15 years, the team made it to the playoffs for the top 8 teams in Switzerland!

We wish Joanna and her team every success in the fight for the title.

Clean label pectin market to bounce back after pandemic

Article published in “What’s New in Food Technology and Manufacturing”

New research has found nearly 80% of the clean label pectin demand has been concentrated in the food and beverage sector.

Consumers have been increasingly focused on cleaner and simpler ingredient lists. Even as the demand for packaged food is rising, food-makers are replacing synthetic additives with natural ingredients.

In recent years, pectin has been a solution to this issue. The starch, which occurs naturally giving structure to fruits and vegetables, has become a commercially essential ingredient for preserves and jams.

The ingredient, which claims many health benefits, can be used as a substitute for a range of preservatives and artificial ingredients.

This is why ESOMAR-certified market research and consulting firm Future Market Insights (FMI) forecasts the clean label pectin market will exhibit nearly 6% CAGR in 2021.


Pectin has determined and influenced UNIPEKTIN Ingredients AG throughout its more than 80 years of company history. For example, soon after its foundation in 1936 by the Schauwecker family in Eschenz, Northern Switzerland as a trading company for pectin and fruit concentrates the establishment of pectin factories in Switzerland, Italy and France were initiated and realized.

The degree of involvement of UNIPEKTIN in these pectin ventures changed during the following decades and eventually stood back behind other hydrocolloid activities like galactomannans. However, early in the new Millenium, it was decided to resurrect the pectin business by using UNIPEKTIN’s broad experience base with countless years of experience in pectin production, standardization and application among its management, the laboratory personnel and technical sales-people as well as the international distributors, making UNIPEKTIN Ingredients AG once again a trusted source for pectin globally.

NEW: VIDOFIBRES KF 15 – our functionally unique plant fibre from carrots.

Carrot Fibre VIDOFIBRES KF 15. High water-binding capacity paired with very strong swelling capacity, for superior functionality and ease-of-use.

VIDOFIBRES KF 15 is 100% pure Carrot Fibre, produced from carrot pulp after juice processing.

VIDOFIBRES KF 15 is one of the most interesting plant-based vegetable texturizers, through its high water-binding capacity and particularly very strong swelling capacity, its superior pulpiness and pasty texture, its light-yellow colour and appealing taste, its availability, sustainability and cost-in-use benefits.

VIDOFIBRES KF is initially available as the fine particle size grade, VIDOFIBRES KF 15 C.

VIDOFIBRES KF 15 C carrot fibre provides stabilisation, water binding, structure, texture, freshness and insoluble & soluble dietary fibre.

VIDOFOBRES KF 15 perfectly complements our extensive range of VIDOFIBRES BF (sugar beet), VIDOFIBRES CF (citrus), VIDOFIBRES AF (apple) and VIDOFIBRES PF (pear) fibres.

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