Cargill, Dairygold and Chr. Hansen Shortlisted for Dairy Innovation

Lygomme ACH Optimum (Cargill) is one of three nominees for the Food Ingredients Excellence Awards 2009, Dairy Innovation of the Year category. The others are Chr. Hansen A/S CHY-MAX M and Dairygold Food Ingredients UK Ltd Zero salt cheese.

17 Sep 2009 --- Cargill has launched a breakthrough innovation that enables the cost-effective production of a 100 percent non-dairy cheese analogue for pizza and other prepared food applications. Lygomme ACH Optimum functional system (patent pending) replicates the functionality of dairy protein and replaces it fully at an outstanding cost advantage for the manufacturer. The ingredient is one of three nominees for the Food Ingredients Excellence Awards 2009, Dairy Innovation of the Year category. The others are Chr. Hansen A/S CHY-MAX M and Dairygold Food Ingredients UK Ltd Zero salt cheese.

Fabien Bouron, senior dairy applications specialist at Cargill Texturizing Solutions, explains: “Cheese represents approximately 15 percent of a pizza recipe and given its high and fluctuating price, it can have a significant impact on the cost of frozen pizza production. In order to protect their margins, manufacturers have traditionally had to choose between raising pizza prices, limiting portion sizes, or using a blend of different cheeses depending on their current market value.”

LygommeACH Optimum functional system removes this instability by offering manufacturers a cost-effective cheese alternative for pizza which can be used to completely replace highly volatile dairy proteins. Furthermore, its appearance, taste and texture perfectly match those of processed cheese based on dairy proteins and are similar to those of traditional hard cheeses, such as gouda, cheddar or gruyere, thereby ensuring equal enjoyment and satisfaction for consumers.

Due to its specific composition, consisting of a combination of three starches, a galactomannan and a gelling carrageenan, LygommeACH Optimum functional system is not liable to price volatility, eliminating fluctuations in recipe cost. Even when taking into account falling dairy prices, it remains highly attractive with up to 60 percent cost reduction compared with a standard analogue cheese (which on average contains 15 percent dairy proteins) and over 200 percent when compared with traditional cheeses such as mozzarella or emmental.

Furthermore, LygommeACH Optimum functional system overcomes the technical challenges associated with the total replacement of dairy proteins, providing the same key physical and rheological properties as those of analogue pizza cheeses: taste, firmness, appearance, shreadability and melting behavior.

Each component has been carefully selected by Cargill’s team to play a specific role: allow and stabilize the emulsion, bring sufficient viscosity during processing, absorb the water phase, avoid oiling out and syneresis, create a strong network in order to allow the finished cheese product to be shreadable/sliceable, and have a remelting profile.

In addition to the important cost and performance benefits, LygommeACH Optimum functional system also offers health advantages as it contains reduced calories (less fat and no saturated fats) and reduced phosphate intake (no melting salts used). It offers a cheese alternative for people with lactose intolerance and a unique opportunity for vegans to enjoy a product that has the characteristics and taste of cheese but without any animal-derived ingredients. Last but not least, LygommeACH Optimum functional system provides the opportunity to make analogue cheese without allergen labelling, and eligible for Halal and Kosher certification.

Both consumers and regulatory agencies are becoming increasingly concerned about the level of salt in processed foods. Cheese normally contains approximately 2% salt and in response to these concerns, Dairygold has developed a zero salt version of their hugely popular pumpable soft cheese enabling food manufacturers to reduce the salt content in their product whilst also benefitting from all the other advantages offered by pumpable soft cheese. The product is mainly targeted at a range of ingredient cheese users, in particular ready meal, sauce, and dairy dessert applications. 

“Dairygold's pumpable soft cheese has already been hugely successful in providing ingredient cheese users with a natural, lower cost, easy to handle alternative to gratable cheese which delivers a strong cheese flavor”, Aidan Fitzsimons Director of Innovation at Dairygold Food ingredients told FoodIngredientsFirst.

Chr. Hansen is positioning camel chymosin as a revolutionary new coagulant for cheese making. For many years it was thought that 100% pure bovine chymosin – CHY-MAX – was nature’s most efficient enzyme to make cheese. With the introduction of CHYMAX M Chr. Hansen claims to have confidence in its next generation fermentation produced chymosin. Reduced costs-in-use (lower dosage, higher cheese yield), better process control, improved flavor/reduced bitterness, and in some cases increased shelflife are some of the attractive characteristics of the product. “CHY-MAX M is a novel patented coagulant used in cheese production that already exists for many years, where 'the market' thought that improvements would not be possible”, says David Stroo Marketing Director Enzymes & Tests at Chr. Hansen. “CHY-MAX M delivers higher yield (more cheese from the same milk), better quality cheese (better taste/texture), lower costs, as well as a lower environmental impact”, he adds.

Stroo said that the ingredient is already in use at about 10% of US cheese production one year after market introduction. CHY-MAX M is currently used by 11 cheese manufacturers in North America, 1 in South America, 1 in the Middle East and 1 in Africa. Approval has been applied for in Europe – France and Denmark suffice - and is expected by the end of 2009. Several manufacturers of string cheese and fresh cheese found that the new enzyme helps to keep the product within specifications over time, thus may be used to enlarge shelflife.

Fourteen innovative food ingredients have been shortlisted for the Food ingredients (Fi) Excellence Awards. The winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Food ingredients Europe on 17 November 2009 at 6pm.

The companies and products in the other categories are:

Bakery Innovation of the Year
• J.RETTENAMEIR & SOEHNE GmbH & Co.KG - VITACEL Corn Fibre MF 401
• National Starch Food Innovation - N-Dulge FR

Confectionery Innovation of the Year
• IOI-Loders Croklaan - Biscuitine 580
• AarhusKarlshamn Denmark A/S  - DELIAIR NH
• Fuji Oil Europe - REDUSAT

Savoury/Meat Innovation of the Year
• Chr. Hansen A/S - Bactoferm Rubis
• DSM Food Specialties - Maxavor Chicken YE
• FrieslandCampina Kievit - Vana Crema 78 D

Snacks/On-The-Go Innovation of the Year
• Lyckeby Culinar AB – Culinax
• Rousselot – AperoMallow
• EPI  - Yoggets

By Robin Wyers