Clementina Dellomonaco and Simon Bird explain how enzymes, cultures, and AI-driven R&D are helping food and beverage producers cut costs, reduce waste, and embed sustainability as a driver of value, resilience, and growth—especially across the rapidly modernising Middle East.
Food and beverage manufacturers are under growing pressure to balance affordability, sustainability, and consistent quality while operating at scale. Clementina Dellomonaco, Senior Vice-President, Food Biosciences, and Simon Bird, Vice President, Food & Beverage Biosciences, at IFF, spoke to Tahawultech.com about how bioscience is shifting from a perceived cost burden to a strategic business enabler. The discussion explores how enzymes, cultures, and data-driven R&D—supported by AI—are helping producers reduce waste, optimise energy and water use, strengthen food security, and improve production economics across baking, brewing, and dairy.
The conversation also highlights how these innovations are enabling manufacturers to move beyond compliance-led sustainability toward value creation, resilience, and long-term competitiveness, particularly in rapidly modernising markets such as the Middle East.
Interview excerpts:
Manufacturers are under pressure to balance cost efficiency with sustainability. How is IFF’s Health & Biosciences team helping the food industry redefine this equation so that “green” no longer means “expensive”?
When discussing affordability, we try to shift the conversation away from simply “cheap” and toward “value.” We develop solutions that optimise manufacturing processes, reduce waste, and enhance product quality, ultimately increasing consumer purchasing power while also improving sustainability. We focus on helping manufacturers create value, not just lower costs. In baking, our robust enzyme solutions help reduce production costs and maximise efficiency without sacrificing product quality. These solutions can replace or reduce reliance on volatile ingredients like gluten and emulsifiers, while also minimising waste and extending shelf life. In brewing, our enzymatic solutions optimise production processes, reducing energy and water consumption. In Dairy, we assist semi-hard cheesemakers in reducing water and energy usage while cutting costs and maximising yield. With our culture offering we can also support creating fresh fermented products with consistent texture and mildness throughout their shelf life, preventing spoilage. This also offers a lot of process flexibility and, of course, shelf-life flexibility as well, because fermented products tend to continue to acidify.
Enzymes such as POWERFLEX and DIAZYME NOLO demonstrate measurable reductions in food waste and raw material use. Can you share how data and R&D insights guide such innovations from concept to commercial scale?
Our R&D has been exploring nature for many years, initially through manual searching and then with high-throughput screening of massive datasets. We have always had an expert and a big data scientist working together to mine our data. And we kept collecting more data. Now, with cloud computing and AI, we can link performance data to our existing data, understanding, for instance, how bacteria work.
However, there is still a desire for that human touch, especially when technology is at the core of product delivery. So, it’s crucial for us, as an example, to tell stories and build stories that align with consumer’s preferences and create and reinforce that human connection to the brand.
We begin by identifying a critical shift in consumer preferences toward healthier and more environmentally responsible products—such as the growing demand for NOLO beers. The opportunity lies in capitalising on this trend by delivering superior taste and mouthfeel in NOLO offerings, while simultaneously reducing operational costs and minimising grist-related environmental impacts, including energy consumption.
With that in mind, we developed DIAZYME NOLO, an advanced enzymatic solution designed to optimise the dealcoholising process. By reducing the energy required for evaporation, DIAZYME NOLO enables breweries to achieve higher unfermentable extract levels. This innovation allows up to 60% higher throughput when beer is de-brewed to the same extract specification. It also saves up to 37% reduction in grist usage, helping breweries lower raw material consumption and associated environmental impacts.
These efficiencies not only improve production economics but also advance sustainability goals by reducing energy use and resource intensity.
“We also observed in the bakery industry that bread staling and resulting food waste remain major challenges for bakeries.”
For instance, flatbreads are a staple with strong multicultural appeal. Our POWERFLEX enzyme solution, powered by anti-staling G4 amylase, helps maintain softness and moistness throughout the shelf life of flatbreads. It also enhances rollability, ensuring consumers enjoy fresh, foldable flatbreads for longer, enabling long-lasting softness and freshness which contributes to avoiding food waste.
Many producers still view sustainability through the lens of compliance rather than opportunity. How is IFF working with partners to change this mindset and show the economic benefits of sustainable manufacturing?
The mindset changes when you speak the language of economics and operations. Compliance is a cost, while opportunities deliver a tangible return. When we can show the value, for example, “This enzyme allows you to reduce the usage of volatile, high-cost raw material”, the conversation shifts from compliance to strategic sourcing. Beyond meeting regulations, sustainable practices powered by bioscience create tangible business benefits:
- Reduce food waste during production and can extend shelf life, improving yield and profitability.
- Optimise energy use across processing lowering operational costs.
- Cut water consumption in ingredient production and applications, reducing resource dependency.
- Enable alternative raw materials (e.g., brewing, milling), strengthening supply resilience and cost efficiency.
At IFF, sustainability is embedded in every stage of product development, from concept to the consumer’s table. We look at all aspects: how the product will succeed with customers by delivering the benefits they expect, the profit it will generate, and the reduced environmental impact it will achieve. Sustainability isn’t an add-on; it’s part of the process and the value proposition.
The Middle East food sector is rapidly modernising with advanced automation and energy-efficient systems. How do IFF’s biosolutions align with regional goals such as food security and resource optimisation?
IFF’s Food Biosciences enzymes and cultures support the Middle East’s modernisation goals by combining innovation with sustainability. They help manufacturers optimise resources, reduce energy and water consumption, and minimise waste. This is critical in a region where efficiency is paramount.
Our cultures, such as HOLDBAC, can extend the shelf life of cheese and dairy products, strengthen the local food supply chain and reduce spoilage. Through fermentation, the HOLDBAC cultures maintain freshness without compromising taste or sensory quality, enabling manufacturers to cut waste and deliver consistent product quality.
Our enzymes help producers maximise yield and unlock sustainability potential. When combined with local raw materials, there is an opportunity to reduce environmental impact while increasing, for instance, the value of manufacturers brew. To support this, we’ve developed our Sustainability Impact Calculator, which shows how choosing smart grist can lower your footprint and deliver cost savings. Enzymes can compensate for the low natural enzyme content in many adjuncts, reduce viscosity during brewing, and cut energy and water use—helping companies in their efforts to brew more efficiently and sustainably.
What emerging biotechnology trends do you believe will most transform food and beverage manufacturing efficiency over the next five years?
The future of food depends on our ability to innovate. Biosciences are unlocking solutions that were unimaginable just a decade ago, like precision fermentation. Precision fermentation isn’t here to replace cows or traditional agriculture; it’s here to empower us. Biosciences open up new possibilities to tackle the toughest challenges in food production, from climate pressures to supply disruptions. By connecting innovation alongside tradition, we can build a food system that’s more resilient, adaptable, and sustainable for everyone. Precision fermentation is a tool for progress, not a threat, it helps secure the future of food while supporting farmers and communities.
Also, artificial intelligence in R&D is another major trend. IFF uses predictive models to screen millions of potential enzyme structures “in silico” (on a computer) before we ever enter a lab. This dramatically accelerates our R&D, allowing us to find and commercialise solutions for new industry challenges faster than ever.
AI is crucial for making informed choices in product development. It provides a wealth of data, giving experts more tools to explore a wider range of options. It helps us be more determined and deliberate in our choices. As mentioned before, at IFF we are pioneers in using big data to scout nature’s options. We scoured millions of data sets using our knowledge. So, we have always had an expert and a big data scientist working together to mine our data. And we kept collecting more data. This accelerates our R&D, allowing us to find and commercialise solutions for new industry challenges faster than ever.
