LYDIA DOMINGUEZ
EGADE Business School Tecnologico de Monterrey
Ezequiel Reficco
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Genius Foods uses food science to turn mango seeds, peels and leftover pulp into a fiber-packed powder that can serve as an emulsifier. This powder can replace up to 50% of the eggs and fat in baked goods, substitute for sugar, pectin and anti-foaming agents in jams and jellies and even serve as a texurizer and natural preservative in sausages and other processed meats.
Genius Foods is one of a new crop of companies that aim to creatively tackle the problem of food waste. They use about a half-ton of mango residues a week from fruit processors, who usually have to pay someone to cart the stuff way and make the product named Manguifer. They supply bakeries with a powder made from mango residues to make Conchas, a typical Mexican pastry, with more fiber and less fat at a lower price.
When one of the founders was 15 years old, he was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. This created a big impact in his life because he had to make major lifestyle changes or continue down the road to diabetes. Many products made today are too rich in salt, sugar and saturated fats. The founders were inspired to design a product to improve what people already consume without adding a premium for the nutritious and sustainable improvement.
Genius Foods aims to feed 10 billion people by 2050 in a healthy, affordable and sustainable way. To do this, the company is identifying byproducts and residues with a lot of nutrition and potential functionality.
The company is creating new opportunities for farmers by giving them incentives to maximum their crop capacity. These savings are calculated between 5% to 12% in costs and improvements in the quality of their products.
Baking companies also benefit by using Genius Foods' products because it makes their product less expensive, which increases profitability.
Genius Foods benefits the environment because they use alternate crops with little use and the waste from producing plants and transforming them into functional natural ingredients.
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Genius Foods is a company that develops food, ingredients, technologies and services to feed people in a nutritious, sustainable and affordable way.
