Product developed by company
incubated at Unicamp should reach the market in six months.

Homemade beans. In five minutes

RAQUEL DO CARMO SANTOS

CWithin an hour of preparation, experienced cooks guarantee good beans with homemade seasoning. But a new option should hit the market in six months: “instant whole beans”, to be prepared in the microwave or regular pan (without pressure) in just five minutes. Partnership signed, on the 16th, between Green Technologies, a company belonging to Unicamp's Technology-Based Business Incubator (Incamp) and ATI-Gel de Atibaia, will place on the market one of the most consumed products by the Brazilian family, preserving the nutritional and sensory components (taste, aroma and texture) and, best of all, it can be prepared with a personal touch to the seasoning. The contract provides for the transfer of technology and the licensing of patents not only for beans, but also for two other products with considerable market acceptance: soybeans and instant salads. “The difference is that the food will be offered frozen. In addition to convenience, as the products eliminate labor in cooking grains and vegetables, we are also concerned with a healthy product”, declares the president of Green, Franz Salces Ruiz.

Food will be on sale frozen

In general, the options found in supermarkets do not have the original characteristics of foods prepared at home and still leave something to be desired in terms of nutritional values. In this sense, Ruiz highlights that Green Technologies has developed a line of functional products with high added value, called “Convenience and Health”. The main characteristics of these products are the high content of nutrients and fiber and the maintenance of the natural structure, as they are minimally processed. In addition to beans, soy and salad, the product line also includes brown rice, breakfast cereals and protein snacks. “The idea is to combine the practicality of modern life and the taste of traditional Brazilian food”, highlights Ruiz.

innovative technology – Graduated in the field of chemical engineering, but with a postgraduate degree in food technology, Ruiz began research since his incubation at Unicamp, in 2002. At Incamp, he celebrates the incubator's first two patents that will be transferred to the private sector. Bolivian, the engineer completed his postgraduate training at Unicamp and carried out research at the Institute of Food Technology (Ital), for nine years. With extensive experience in the food sector, it was not difficult for the researcher to choose to study possibilities applicable to the Brazilian menu. Salces explains that more than developing a product with innovative features, his concern went further. “Based on market research, we identified the main needs of contemporary women,” he explains. Therefore, beans, especially after they are ready, maintain their texture and flavor, so appreciated by the general population. “The product is 100% natural”, he defines.

To reach his goal, the engineer had financial support from Fapesp for his research. He used a method of pre-cooking beans and soybeans with high pressure so that the products are frozen semi-ready. The technique allows the inactivation of antinutritional factors and the formation of undesirable compounds, which produce, for example, a bitter taste. The development of this type of food, explains Ruiz, necessarily requires raw materials and natural processing and conservation methods, free from chemical preservatives, radiation and other components.

In the case of soybeans, Ruiz – as an advocate and frequent consumer – remembers that the grain is seen as the food of the new millennium due to its nutritional and functional properties. In comparative terms, the protein content of soy is twice that of meat, four times that of eggs, wheat and other cereals, five times that of bread and twelve times that of milk. The problem, however, lies in the manpower required to prepare it. With the new product on the market, the consumer will soon have a meal with high nutritional value. In market research, more than 90% accepted the taste of the food. In the test, the product also maintained the natural grain characteristics, such as the granular structure and high fiber content.

Frozen products – ATI-Gel, which has been in the frozen vegetables market for 17 years, basically serves the industrial kitchen market, fast food chains and airlines. “We intend to export the new products to the Asian market”, declares the company’s CEO, Geraldo Ferreira de Almeida. According to him, it will take six months to implement the project. At this stage, Salces will be offering all operational support for the development of the technology on an industrial scale. “After this period we will be able to offer the product, initially to customers already served by the company and then in retail”, estimates Almeida. The investment costs for the product to reach the consumer were not disclosed for reasons of secrecy, but Almeida explains that the headquarters in Atibaia has an idle production capacity of 20 to 30%, and the products arrive at a good time to adapt to this capacity. In 2003, the company produced 2.500 tons of frozen products.

According to ATI-Gel consultant, Maurício Cardoso, the company strives for quality, proof of this is that 60% of the products sold come from crops maintained by the company. The other 40% receive direct support from an agronomist. Therefore, before closing the deal with Green Technologies, the entrepreneurs made a point of trying out the products. “They are very good. Soy doesn’t even have the same traditional taste”, says Cardoso. The expectation is to place soybeans sold separately and instant salad with soybeans on the market.

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