Meet Didem Icoz: Driving innovation in texture and healthful solutions

Didem Icoz , Director of Global Applications for Texture and Healthful Solutions, is a dynamic leader in the food and beverage industry, heading an application team that transforms ingredient functionality into practical, category-specific solutions. With a focus on fostering a customer-centric culture, she champions innovation and technical excellence.??

Read to discover Didem's professional journey, explore her current projects and uncover the philosophies that drive her success.??

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Q: What are some of the most exciting trends in food and beverage ingredients that you're currently exploring??

A: One of the most prevalent trends in food and beverages is positive nutrition. Consumers are getting more conscious of what they eat and what it means for their health and well-being. Within this trend, we serve our customers under five consumer benefits areas:?

• Sugar Reduction to reduce the total and added sugars as well as calories?
• Protein and/or Fiber Fortification to correct the nutrient deficiency and achieve recommended dietary intake levels?
• Digestive Health to positively impact appropriate digestion, nutrient absorption, bowel movement and gut microbiome?
• Metabolic Health to positively impact weight management, blood glucose and blood lipid profiles??

Enabling positive nutrition and consumer-preferred textures requires an extensive and diverse portfolio. At Ingredion, we take a wide variety of nature-based ingredients, including corn, tapioca, rice, stevia and pea, and convert them into functional ingredients, such as fibers, sweeteners, proteins and functional starches. We also offer customized solutions that address our customers’ specific unmet positive nutrition and texture needs for their markets. Ingredion’s Texture Equation?, a winning formula for helping manufacturers unlock preferred sensory attributes and deliver differentiated products, takes into account the below:??

• Ingredion’s comprehensive portfolio?

• Insights-driven expertise leveraging research-backed knowledge of local tastes and preferences?

• A deep technical mastery that enables crafting exceptional eating experiences through industry-led scientific approaches and processes?

We’re excited to be part of our customers’ innovation journeys to enable making healthy taste better.?

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Q: What challenges do you face when translating ingredient functionality into practical applications??

A: When using functional ingredients, maintaining texture and flavor while meeting consumer preferences is crucial. Whether it's crafting reduced-sugar gummy candy or indulgent plant-based yogurt, texture significantly impacts the eating experience. According to one of Ingredion’s proprietary texture consumer research studies, over 70% of consumers may switch brands if texture doesn't meet their expectations. 1?

For that purpose, it is important to understand the ingredient functionality as a whole, which includes:?

• The ingredient itself?

• Interactions it might have with other components in a formulation?

• Changes that can happen during processing with heat, low pH and/or high shear conditions?

• Changes that might occur during shelf-life?

A toolbox approach is key—not only a toolbox of functional ingredients but additional tools that can help solve some of the texture and flavor drawbacks. For example, while reducing sugar (which has a gold standard, consumer familiar sweetness profile) using high potency sweeteners, sweetness onset and duration might be impacted. Having access to taste modulation tools would help reduce the lingering sweetness and/or shift sweetness onset. While formulating for a plant-based yogurt, enhancing creaminess might be needed. Utilization of tapioca-based functional starches can address this need to provide a complete eating experience.?

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Q: Can you share an example of a successful product that was developed with direct customer feedback??

A: A recent example of this is our VITESSENCE? Pea 200 D pea protein isolate, designed for ready-to-mix beverages. One of the biggest challenges of using proteins in this application is grittiness, powdery mouthfeel and protein-related off-notes in the final product. VITESSENCE? Pea 200 D solves these issues, providing a superior drinking experience with excellent solubility for quick dispersion and a lump-free mouthfeel. It also has a clean taste compatible with a range of different flavor profiles and provides a smooth texture with reduced use of gums and thickeners.?

One other example is our PureCircle by Ingredion Clean Taste Solubility Solution, PCS3045 Stevia Sweetener. This product is specifically designed for high solubility requiring applications, such as concentrated carbonated beverage syrups, coffee syrups or high solids containing fillings. It solves for the solubility challenge in stevia space, while still providing a great, clean taste and with optimized cost-in-use.?

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Q: How did you get started in your career, and what inspired you to pursue this path??

A: I have a background in Food Engineering and Food Science. After I completed my graduate studies, I took a role around analytical measurement science at National Starch. It was my first professional role and a great one! I got to tour our global plants, understand the processing of our ingredients, and ensure consistent and quality functionality of our products. I later transitioned into ingredient design and development, working on sugar reduction and specialty sweeteners within the Innovation Group.??

Now, I currently serve as the Director of Global Applications for Texture and Healthful Solutions. In this role, I focus on developing ingredients with differentiated functionality in applications around sugar reduction, protein and fiber fortification, and texture solutions. Being close to our customers and solving their innovation challenges through differentiated solutions has been an inspirational journey for me.??

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Q: What are your passions outside of work? Any hobbies or activities you particularly enjoy??

A: My biggest and busiest hobby is taking my two daughters to their hobbies, and every year the list gets bigger! Even if this leaves minimum time for my hobbies ??, I really enjoy seeing how passionate they are about something outside of their school life and pursuing it with discipline. I also love traveling and experiencing new places and cultures with my family. Not only is traveling personally fun, but I like it from a professional point of view as well. It teaches me what food habits are present in different cultures and how they approach different trends in their daily food routines. These insights help me better connect with our customers all around the world in their innovation journey of making healthy taste better.??

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Q: Do you have any personal or professional philosophies that you adhere to??

A: The one that I love, which applies both personally and professionally, is “doing what you say and saying what you do.” For me, this is the basis for developing trust and building one’s professional brand. Another principle is being open-minded and continuously seeking improvements in day-to-day activities—from collaboration to communication to innovation—is essential. I see this as the only way to thrive in our continuously and rapidly changing world.?

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Interested in hearing more from Didem? You can see her speak at FoodNavigator’s Positive Nutrition event on March 12. Check out the agenda and register today: https://bit.ly/4hwNeEU?

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1 Ingredion Proprietary, Texture Consumer Research, 2024?