Puratos opens new Flour Competence Center to tackle raw material variability
The specialized research hub is dedicated entirely to advanced flour analysis, application guidance, and the interpretation of crop variations.
BELGIUM – Puratos has opened its new Flour Competence Center, a space dedicated exclusively to flour analysis, the interpretation of variations, and application guidance, located at the company’s headquarters in Groot-Bijgaarden, Belgium.
The facility brings together analytical equipment and Research & Development expertise to translate flour data into practical solutions for industrial bakery producers.
Flour is not a stable raw material; shifts in climate, agricultural practices, and global supply chains mean that protein content, enzyme activity, water absorption, and moisture levels can vary significantly between harvests and even within a single season.
These inconsistencies and quality fluctuations can directly affect the process stability of the flour and the final product quality.
Research at the new facility will cover four main areas: tracking how crop evolution affects bakery and patisserie output; identifying ingredients that can stabilize flour quality; assessing how regenerative flour performs in finished products; and linking flour data to real baking performance across applications including fresh breads, frozen dough and extended shelf-life soft products.
A key feature of the centre is its digital connectivity. The new Flour Competence Center is digitally connected to a network of flour laboratories around the world, allowing Puratos to combine global data with local expertise, building a comprehensive understanding of flour behaviour while delivering solutions tailored to regional crop conditions and customer needs.
Research & Development teams will investigate the long-term evolution of grain crops and evaluate how emerging trends, such as the industry-wide shift toward regenerative agriculture, alter milling and baking outputs.
Sustainable farming techniques often introduce greater crop variability, making targeted biochemical modelling essential.
Crucially, the facility is digitally linked to Puratos’s extensive international network of flour laboratories.
This “glocal” approach ensures insights remain both scalable and relevant across different markets and production environments.
Technology also plays a central role in the centre’s analytical capabilities.
Paul Baisier, Chief Research & Development Officer at Puratos, noted that the centre uses advanced analytics and generative AI-driven predictive modelling to anticipate flour variability.
Baisier elaborated on the rationale behind the investment: “Flour forms the base of most bakery recipes, yet it is one of the most complex and variable raw materials in the industry. With our new Flour Competence Center, we leverage global data, advanced analytics, and GenAI-driven predictive modelling to better understand and anticipate flour variability, translating insights into practical solutions for our customers,” he said.
This proactive capability enables industrial operators to adapt their processes smoothly, maintain uniform crumb structures, and protect product quality.
Insights generated at the Groot-Bijgaarden facility will feed directly into the refinement of Puratos’s proprietary portfolio of clean-label bakery improvers, sourdough active cultures, and specialised patisserie mixes.
The opening underscores Puratos’s commitment to equipping bakery manufacturers with the scientific tools needed to maintain consistency and quality amid an increasingly unpredictable raw-material supply landscape.
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