Food Product Development Projects Lebanon
Hummus Tahini
Mayonnaise — Regular & Low-Calorie
Tomato-Based Products
Challenge: Reproduce the familiar taste and texture of fresh hummus in a commercially shelf-stable canned product.
Result: Developed a shelf-stable canned hummus with sensory characteristics closely resembling those of fresh hummus, while addressing the requirements of industrial processing and preservation.
Challenge: Replicate the taste, texture, appearance, and overall sensory characteristics of established mayonnaise brands across both regular and reduced-calorie formulations.
Result: Successfully benchmarked target products and developed formulations with closely matched sensory characteristics, while adapting the formulations to different nutritional requirements.
Challenge: Develop tomato-based products tailored to different market segments, from affordable products for African markets to premium products for the Lebanese market.
Result: Developed differentiated product concepts and formulations adapted to the target markets, balancing taste, quality, cost, and positioning.
Challenge: Extend shelf life while improving taste and overall eating quality.
Result: Optimized formulations to improve shelf stability, texture, flavor, and overall sensory acceptance while maintaining the desired nutritional profile.
Protein Bars
Challenge: Improve product quality and sensory performance while maintaining an affordable production cost.
Result: Optimized formulations and processing parameters to improve taste, texture, consistency, and overall product quality without significantly increasing production costs.
Biscuits & Wafers
High-Protein Yogurt
Challenge: Develop high-protein yogurt products and explore yogurt-based bar formats.
Result: Developed high-protein yogurt concepts and yogurt bar formulations with improved protein content, texture, stability, and consumer appeal.
Instant Drinks
Energy Drinks
Tahini
Challenge: Develop convenient powdered drink products incorporating electrolytes and prebiotics, as well as powdered cocktail mixes designed to be reconstituted with spirits.
Result: Developed instant powdered beverage formulations designed for rapid preparation, consistent dispersion, and controlled flavor delivery across functional and cocktail applications.
Challenge: Improve product quality and address oxidation-related stability problems.
Result: Identified formulation and processing factors contributing to oxidation and implemented improvements to enhance product stability, quality, and shelf life.
Challenge: Reduce the risk of Salmonella contamination in the finished tahini product.
Result: Developed and implemented food-safety and process-control strategies designed to reduce Salmonella risk and improve the microbiological safety of the finished product.
Lebanese Specialties
Alcoholic Beverages
Molasses
Challenge: Transform traditional Lebanese dishes such as Mujaddara, Bulgur, and Freekeh into convenient, shelf-stable ready-to-eat products.
Result: Developed shelf-stable ready-to-eat concepts while maintaining the characteristic taste, texture, and identity of traditional Lebanese cuisine.
Challenge: Develop innovative flavored beer products with distinctive taste profiles.
Result: Developed and optimized flavored beer concepts through formulation and sensory development, creating differentiated products suitable for commercial evaluation.
Challenge: Develop a comprehensive plan for a national date molasses production project in Iraq and develop pomegranate molasses products ranging from premium to commercial positioning.
Result: Developed production and raw-material strategies for the date molasses project and established differentiated pomegranate molasses concepts targeting multiple market segments and price points.
Confectionery Spreads
Challenge: Develop halawa, chocolate, and pistachio-based spreads with desirable taste, texture, stability, and commercial positioning.
Result: Developed and optimized multiple spread formulations with tailored sensory profiles, textures, and cost structures for different market segments.
Puffed Products
Challenge: Commission a rice cake production facility and develop new flavor varieties for rice cakes.
Result: Supported factory commissioning and production setup while developing and optimizing new rice cake flavor concepts for commercial production.
Analog Cheese
Challenge: Support the commissioning of an analog cheese factory and develop a processed cream cheese product.
Result: Supported production-line commissioning and process development while developing an analog cream cheese formulation with the required texture, functionality, and sensory characteristics.
Sweetened Condensed Milk
Challenge: Develop a commercially viable sweetened condensed milk product with the required taste, texture, stability, and processing characteristics.
Result: Developed and optimized a sweetened condensed milk formulation suitable for industrial production, with controlled consistency, sweetness, and stability.
Bone Broth
Challenge: Extend the shelf life of bone broth and explore value-added applications such as protein bars and gummies.
Result: Developed shelf-life improvement strategies and explored new bone-broth-based product formats, including protein bars and functional gummies, expanding the potential applications of the ingredient.