KEY INTERVIEW: A Novel Whey Solution for Greek Yogurt Producers

30 Jun 2014 --- Arla Foods Ingredients recently revealed a concept which enables companies to create new dairy products from the acid whey they generate from making Greek yogurt. FoodIngredientsFirst speaks to the company’s application manager, Torben Jensen, to find out how beneficial this breakthrough is for the industry.

The problem:
Greek yogurt has become hugely popular in the US, and more recently in the UK and across Europe. It’s produced in a different way from traditional yogurts, and the higher protein levels have been a key driver for health-conscious consumers.

“It is a strained yogurt and it is concentrated – the protein levels are much higher, because there are more milk solids,” explains Arla Food ingredients’ applications manager, Torben Jensen.
But with the rise in popularity of Greek-style yogurts, the resulting acid whey ‘waste’ product has started to become a real problem for manufacturers.
“It’s something that’s really become an issue during the last two to three years along with the boom of Greek yogurt, and that’s why it has become an even more serious issue for producers – it’s become a challenge for them to know what to do about the increasing amounts of acid whey they are left with,” says Jensen.
For every 100kg of milk used to make traditional Greek yogurt, only 33kg ends up used in the final product. The remaining two-thirds is acid whey, which is a by-product that must be dealt with by the processor.
Until now, Greek yogurt makers have tended to offload acid whey into the animal feed and biofuels markets. But handling costs are high and returns are low, making both of these uneconomical options. Alternatively, some producers simply dispose of acid whey in their waste stream, a solution that attracts unwelcome overheads and zero income – and controversy on environmental grounds.
“There are a range of places producers send it to at present but the value is quite low when you get out of the food industry – it all costs money to transport it to the farmer or somewhere else,” Jensen explains.

The solution:
Arla Foods Ingredients has spent the last three years working to find a solution to help Greek yogurt producers, Jensen explains. “We had looked at it before this period but it wasn’t such a critical problem then because the boom in popularity of Greek yogurt hadn’t occurred at that time.”
The innovative processing solution, which is based on Arla Foods Ingredients’ Nutrilac protein, allows companies to use their acid whey to make value-added dairy products, such as fermented whey drinks, cream cheese and desserts.
“What we are now able to offer is both the idea about the process and also a new ingredient, and it is a combination of these two which enables us to offer a new way of processing a fermented product,” says Jensen. “One of the aims of our concept is to produce products together with manufacturers and to help provide solutions for them, which is how we normally work. We will help to find the right recipe for them – and we can adapt our new concept in different directions.”
For yogurt producers there are many advantages. “Not only do they no longer need to worry about how to dispose of acid whey, but they can potentially extend their product range,” Jensen notes. “When creating new products with the acid whey you can make claims about its pure whey protein, so this could be another good way of tapping into the general growth of protein-rich products, particularly in the dairy sector.”
Jensen explains that the concept itself is simple. “There should be no need for producers to invest more in their equipment to be able to produce new products from the by-products of Greek yogurt,” he says. “Most producers already produce other yogurt products and so they should be able to produce the new items on their existing production lines.”
The result, according to Arla Foods Ingredients, is a fresh tasting and nutritious product that is a good source of calcium, protein and essential amino acids. In addition, using acid whey in this way eliminates the storage and transportation requirements associated with other methods of disposing of it.
Jenson also notes that the company’s acid whey concept is also suitable for use in other applications where acid whey is a by-product, including quark and cottage cheese production.

How might this change the industry?
The company has already seen some interest from producers of Greek yogurt (and therefore acid whey), and, says Jensen, there has already been some positive feedback from a wide range of customers.
“It will definitely have global appeal, and we will work with customers all over the world,” he notes. “What we are offering is far more cost-effective and should be more profitable than trying to dispose of it. Producers should be able to enhance their profits, especially if they can create good demand for their new acid-whey based products.”
The other benefit, he explains, is that they will be able to present a better environmental image to their customers.
“More and more people are getting concerned about food waste and the environmental impact of this, and so companies want to make sure everything they produce is done in a good way,” he says. “This will help to promote a more environmentally-friendly image and it should also help to reduce food miles.”

By Sonya Hook