CHICAGO — Comparing innovation to an intersection in the IFTNEXT presentation, “A Simple Approach to Displacing Costly or Vulnerable Ingredients in Your Recipes,” Mike Hamilton, chief executive officer at Renmatix, named consumer shifts and technology as the roads that create this path of forward thinking.

For Renmatix, innovation currently comes down to consumers’ shifts toward clean label and free-from products.

“Consumers, especially younger consumers — up to 86% of the younger generation — pretty much decide purchase decision based on clean labels,” Mr. Hamilton noted. “And that’s only going to continue to grow.”

He added, “Not surprising, across the country in the U.S., up to about a third of the population is trying to reduce gluten or eliminate gluten from their diet.”

To serve this consumer need, Renmatix intersects it with its hydrolysis technology and ingredient called Simple Cellulose. This product has a globular shape and is made only from plants and water. It provides emulsification, optimizes for fat absorption, acts as a humectant and more.

Calling it the Plantrose Process, Renmatix developed super critical hydrolysis reactors that split the water and plant material apart to obtain a fraction of product — the average particle size is 1 to 2 microns.

“No chemicals have touched our materials,” Mr. Hamilton said. “It’s naturally modified.”

Simple Cellulose seeks to provide bakers a replacement for ingredients such as eggs, oils, fats and various thickeners in muffins, donuts, brownies and bread. By replacing multiple ingredients in a recipe and being labeled “simple cellulose,” it gives consumers a cleaner label. In addition, it can be effective in free-from products by improving the texture of products that are gluten-, soy- and dairy-free.

Through this hydrolysis technology, Renmatix plans to expand Simple Cellulose further to sauces, meat systems and other baked foods.