Calorie density, satiety and taste
Werner Bauer - Chief Technology Officer, Nestlé S.A.
Translation of interview published in Neue Zürcher Zeitung  on June 30, 2008.

If you think 'light' products are only about less fat and sugar, you may not be aware of recent developments in food technology. The latest products are designed to be not only 'light' but also satisfying.

'Light products? – No thanks, they are not tasty!' If that’s your view, Werner Bauer will soon put you right. A native Bavarian, a chemical engineer and with Nestlé since 2007 as Chief Technology Officer, Bauer laughs and waves these misconceptions away. 'That’s how it used to be', he says, and whisks the visitor into his office at the Nestlé headquarters in Vevey, into the wonderful new world of technologically optimised food.

I would never tell my children they can’t have chocolate!
Werner Bauer on the roof of the Nestlé headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland

A strategically important market
There are mayonnaises that contain just 9 grammes of fat per 100 grammes (not 82, like the French original), and one-seventh of the normal calorie count. But Nestlé’s special range for the strategically important "weight management" market also includes “light” shakes, milk drinks and soups. Bauer, a member of the Nestlé Group Executive Board, says this is a global market worth some 40 to 50 billion dollars. And at 6 to 8 percent, it is currently growing substantially faster than the market as a whole.

The production of today's light products focuses primarily on three things: to reduce the calorie or energy density (less fat and sugar) in products, using all kinds of technical means and methods; to increase satiety (this curbs the impulse to eat); and to optimise taste – all this preferably without the loss of nutrients. ‘We master these processes very well’, says Bauer proudly. He does concede that there used to be a disproportionate emphasis on fat free products. Both body and brain require fat, after all, and most flavouring is fat-soluble, too.
Judging by his impressive career, Bauer obviously knows something about food technology. Before being appointed as Director of the Nestlé Research Centre in Lausanne in 1990, he was a professor at the Technical University of Munich and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Food Technology and Packaging.

The 57-year old top manager regards the move from academia to industry as a logical development. Engineers simply love putting their ideas into practice, he says.
This love, and a fascination with technological possibilities are both evident when he for example explains a new process that allows part of the fat in ice cream to be replaced with the tiniest protein crystals. 'Using these microparticles, which are obtained from normal milk protein, we can reduce the calorie density and fat percentage, whilst also increasing satiety.' And because the tongue can't distinguish between fat and protein particles, the consumer doesn’t end up feeling he is eating a less tasty ice cream, explains Bauer. 'On the contrary, this product is even creamier, even more enjoyable.'

Educating the population
Before the visitor's own thoughts turn to ice cream, he puts another important question to Bauer: how does he answer critics who say that artificial flavours and additives in industrially manufactured products disturb our natural feelings of hunger and satiety, and therefore contribute to the global increase in overweight? – The Nestlé ambassador doesn’t hesitate for long, he’s familiar with the question. Nestlé makes every effort, he says, to use flavourings, sweeteners and preservatives that are as natural as possible. A great deal has been learnt in this field in recent years. And the technical methods now in use are gentler, so there is often no longer any need for artificial additives.

In Bauer’s view, there are no "good" or "bad" foods. The important thing is to achieve the right mix, as we all eat a wide range of food. 'I would never tell my children they can’t have chocolate', he says, laughing. 'There’s so much good stuff in it.' But Bauer does see a need for action: children and adults should be better educated in terms of what constitutes a good diet. He is convinced this would quickly correct the current trend towards an overweight society.