Page 24 - Food&Drink Magazine November-December 2021

✷ RISING STAR
Genes made to fit
BE Fit Food CEO Kate Save and myDNA co-founder Allan Sheffield have collaborated to develop personalised meals that combine the science of food with customers’ genetics.
Be Fit Food was founded by Save, an accredited dietitian and diabetes educator, and bariatric surgeon Dr Geoffrey Draper. Their goal was to help Australians eat healthier and reverse the rising rates of obesity. After working together for more than a decade and helping around 20,000 patients, the pair recognised a gap in the market for a weight loss program and meal plan service that was backed by science and delivered long term results.
In February this year, the Be Fit Food team took its scientific foundations to a new level, launching a partnership with Melbourne-based genetics
company myDNA to take its meal plans to a new level of customer personalisation.
myDNA launched its health and wellness mobile app last December with an. Co-founder Professor Allan Sheffield says the goal is for people to learn about their genetics and to then take action.
“It’s about looking at someone’s genetics and helping them learn more about their body so they can make better and more individualised choices based on their DNA,” says Sheffield.
A customer’s DNA is collected with a painless cheek swab, which is sent to the myDNA lab where the team extracts the DNA material.
myDNA then works with BeFit Food by testing around 60 genetic markers on each customer’s results. From there, individuals are categorised into
one of four diet profiles that have been developed in partnership with the CSIRO – Mediterranean, Protein Balance, Clean & Lean, and Lite & Trim. The results allow myDNA to maximise the macronutrients of proteins, carbs, and fats in each of the Be Fit Food profiles, ultimately providing a more personalised meal plan.
The Be Fit Food range is all snap frozen which helps maintain the integrity of the food, it also allows people to control their personalised weight loss program to when they’re ready to start, rather than when the meals arrive.
Be Fit Food partners with a manufacturer that has a production capacity of 150,000
meals a week and is delivering nationwide.
“We use evidence-based science only – if there’s no evidence, we’re not interested.”
Both Save and Sheffield affirm that the data collected in the genetic testing is completely owned by the customer.
Results are not shared without consent, with myDNA only providing advice and not the results to Be Fit Food when meal plans are recommended to a customer.
The team is now working with Deakin University, studying the impact a whole food diet such as Be Fit Food has on gut microbes and, ultimately, mentalhealth. ✷
Kim and the coffee factory
KIM Loupis was looking for a way to make his coffee stand out in a crowded market, he ended up looking to the past, throwing a log on the fire and creating not only Australia’s only wood roasted coffee company but the only set-up of its kind in the world.
At his speciality coffeehouse The Wood Roaster, Loupis began drawing upon the old traditions and principles of wood-fired artisan roasting and combining it with a new custom-built, temperature- controlled air roaster with data logging technology.
“I settled on a machine with a separate furnace that is an air roaster. It doesn’t produce smoke, so the flavour
isn’t affected.
“It also has a control system for the temperature,
which we can run from the computer to the exact temperature degree we want,” he explains.
The Wood Roaster uses the dry heat from the wood roasting machine to caramelise its beans. For The Wood Roaster account manager Melissa
Johnson, the stand-out feature of the roasting machine is its consistency and the flavour profiles it delivers.
“It brings out the next level of uniqueness to our
flavour profiles. We are bringing back the old traditions, but with the added benefit of today’s technology,” she says.
The company offers single origin beans including Yirgacheffe; Guatemala Pachaya Volcanic; Rwanda Coco Honey & Peaberry; Colombia Finca Alto Bonito; and Brazil Bela Epoch.
But its blends are the result of internal collaboration, normally between Loupis and roaster Satin Rau, who work side by side to create various blends.
Once formulated, a team testing phase begins for further edits, then to clients and then customers.
The family-owned business also prides themselves on following strict environmental and sustainable practices.
The factory runs on 100 per cent solar power and the timber it uses is sourced from a sustainable forest in Queensland. For every tree that gets cut down, another three are planted in its place. Moisture in the wood is removed by airing in The Wood Roaster’s warehouse. This means the coffee house only burns dry aged timbers.
The company has also installed a second catalytic after-burner to its roasting system, to further mitigate emissions and by-product.
Never one to rest of his laurels, Loupis says the company will continue to invest in more machines and technology to help with their day-to-day operations and growth plans to take the brand into other states.
The Wood Roaster currently supplies around 60 cafés.
Loupis has just installed new plug and chain automation, also custom built. It allows coffee to be moved around the factory from the roaster to the mixer, without damaging the bean.
“We also had a new floveyor conveying system installed recently. It is a system that has never been used with coffee production before. It looks like a little version of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory with everything going on,” Loupis says.
For a coffee roaster with fire under his coffee beans, that is time well spent. ✷
24 | Food&Drink business | November - December 2021 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au