NPI wants to provide as much technical assistance as possible as you begin your formulation or reformulation project. By using the following guidelines, we will be able to provide the highest level of support to your R&D team. An effective technical support program begins before your project has even started.

Before Running Trials

We can help you frame up your trials if you provide us with the goals and objectives of your project. This will help us suggest the right ingredient for your situation, prioritize your list of possible projects, reduce the number of trials that you may need to conduct, and ultimately shorten your time to market.

Include as much detail as possible, including:

• types of products you are working with (sponge cake, sugar cookie, cake donut, etc.)
• desired quality improvements (shelf life extension, better mouth feel, improved flavor, etc.)
• cost savings goals (reduce cost per usage, eliminate pricing fluctuations, etc.)
• nutritional improvement (increased protein, reduction of cholesterol, etc.)
• desired marketing claims ("heart health" claim, "low fat," "zero cholesterol," etc.)
• process improvements (ease of use, longer ingredient shelf life, ensure supply chain, etc.)
• ingredient replacement goals (reduction or elimination of eggs, NFDM, other soy ingredient, etc.)
• any other details that may be pertinent

In some cases, we may be able to provide a base formulation as a short cut for you. Sometimes we may offer to do a complete reformulation for you--many customers have chosen this option. We may offer to come to your laboratory for a day of on-site training and R&D. Of course, whether you choose to have NPI work on your product or you choose to conduct your own trials, we are committed to helping you succeed.

After Initial Trials

Once you have run your first round of trials, please provide us details of the results. Please include:

• Details of the product quality, appropriate to the product type (texture, crust characteristics, color, smell, flavor, mouthfeel, rise/volume, spread, density, etc.)
• Details of production issues experienced (dough properties, bake times, etc.)
• Up to three photos of the control (see illustrations)
• Up to three photos of each test variation (see illustrations)

It is critical that we have a clear understanding of the differences between the control and the variations. The better we understand the differences, the better our recommendations can be.

Once we have reviewed your trial results, we may request that you provide some additional information related to your original formulation, such as types of flours, oils, sugars, and leavening agents used, baking procedures, or the formulation itself (under confidentiality). This kind of information will give us the best chance of accurately troubleshooting the variations in quality during your baking trials.

Before Running Followup Trials

After evaluating your trial results, we will then provide our suggestions to you in written form. At this point, the formulation strategy may take a number of turns. We may suggest that you substitute another ingredient altogether, or we may suggest one or more changes to make in your formulation. Every situation will vary at this stage.

We hope this helps you understand how we can provide you with excellent technical support as you incorporate ingredients from Natural Products, Inc. into your baked products.