University of Georgia food science alum Andrew Vasina leads Biospringer by Lesaffre’s North America Culinary Center, a laboratory-kitchen hybrid where his team designs prototypes and learns how to use these natural ingredients in new ways. Here, they may tackle a specific product need for a client company or develop an entirely new product for the market. 

Describing his role as part technical salesperson and part product developer, Vasina and his team partner with food manufacturers across North America to develop new products and taste profiles using one incredibly versatile product: yeast extract.

Refining flavors using yeast

“It’s a product that’s created through fermentation. Yeast extract is essentially the inside fraction of the yeast cell,” Vasina explained. “It’s just amino acids and peptides and things like this that bring flavor and that work with the flavor that is in the food.”

It’s the simplicity of yeast extract that makes it so versatile. Think of it like a lightbulb: Using different filaments can make the bulb shine brighter or softer; using different gases inside a neon tube can make it shine red, blue or green. Changing one component can alter how the rest work together, like with yeast extract. With different compounds and formulas, Vasina and his team can enhance savory umami flavors, deepen creaminess in dairy products or mask notes from artificial sweeteners.

“Yeast ingredients are primary for flavor, so we’re really focused on the flavor aspect of it,” he said. “You can always figure out new ways to use it because there’s always something new to try, and I think that’s part of what makes it so fun.”

Whether improving an existing product or creating a whole new one, each type of project has its own technical challenges. If a company needs help reducing a product’s salt content by 10%, for example, the team will often re-create the product and then find the right yeast extract solution to solve the problem. And if they need to develop an entirely new product — a savory seasoning for a vegan meat substitute, for example — they need to understand their market’s needs and gaps to innovate effectively.

“We hold the market leadership in North America as well as the world for yeast extract,” Vasina said. “We really need to be in touch with the market to understand what they launched recently, what their competitors might have launched recently and what trends are going on the market.”

Culinary centers with a global perspective

To better respond to global market differences, Biospringer has four other culinary centers around the world; Vasina led the EMEA Culinary Center, which serves Europe, the Middle East and Africa, for three years before coming to the North American center.

Vasina credits his time at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) for kickstarting his international work experience. As an undergraduate student in the Department of Food Science and Technology, he studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, which led him to pursue a master’s in food innovation and product design through an Erasmus Mundus program in Sweden, France and Ireland. From there, he joined Biospringer, where he’s been for nearly a decade.

“We’re always looking to try something new,” he said. “Our ingredients don’t always do the same thing when they’re placed in a food product. We’re never sure if we’ll learn something new about how our ingredients work, which is great, but I think that the dynamic, versatile nature of the role is probably what I appreciate the most.”

Find out more about the college's diverse study abroad opportunities at caes.uga.edu/students/study-abroad. To learn about CAES alumni and to get involved, visit caes.uga.edu/alumni.