Itongadol.- “Food is the next big area for Israeli tech,” according to entrepreneur and investor Ron Antonovksy. “We are moving from Start-Up Nation to a Foodtech Nation.”
That food tech was on display Wednesday at a conference of the same name. The first Foodtech Nation Conference, held in suburban Tel Aviv, brought together entrepreneurs, academics, and corporate executives from Israel and abroad to examine how made-in-Israel food technology can help manufacturers produce processed food that is easier to store, cheaper to produce, and healthier to eat – the three holy grails of the food processing industry, according to Antonovksy, who consults with companies in Israel and abroad, matching them up with Israeli start-ups.
For example, an Israeli start-up called DouxMatok has developed a technology to make sugar and other sweeteners taste sweeter – enabling producers to use less of the white stuff while retaining the sweet taste that consumers crave. Using a proprietary fiber-based technology, DouxMatok’s technology blankets food and drink with chemically engineered sugar or polyol molecules that enhance the feeling of sweetness in a consumer’s taste receptors.
DouxMatok has developed enhanced sucrose (table sugar), glucose, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and sugar replacements such as maltitol, xylitol, and erythritol. Tests in the UK indicate that consumers can’t tell the difference between “real” sweeteners and the DouxMatok variety.