Chr. Hansen and CP Kelco formulate shelf-stable “vegurts” with oat, soy, pea, coconut and almond bases

28 Nov 2022 --- CP Kelco and Chr. Hansen have unveiled a collaboration that taps into the demand for ambient yogurt alternatives. The move comes amid rising consumer demand for healthier and more sustainable food choices, which has driven a plethora of plant-based options compared to traditional dairy products.

Within the plant-based yogurt categories, manufacturers and retailers have recognized the advantages of shelf-stable products, which can reduce food waste and increase geographical reach.

For consumers, ambient-stable products offer convenience. However, to embrace regular consumption, consumers are not ready to compromise on taste, nutrition and the “naturalness” of shelf-stable, plant-based products.

Oat, soy, pea, coconut and almond concepts 
Together, CP Kelco and Chr. Hansen are demonstrating that the production of nutritious, ambient, plant-based yogurt alternatives is possible for various plant bases. 

This collaboration includes industrially validated prototypes of drinkable and spoonable “vegurts” with either oat, soy, pea, coconut or almond bases.

“The technological challenge to produce both spoonable and drinkable ambient vegurts with great nutrition, taste and texture is significant,” explains Christian Gilleladen, principal application scientist at Chr. Hansen. 

For consumers, ambient-stable products offer convenience.“Selecting the right culture to provide fermentation performance, texture and flavor for each recipe, and having these complement the stabilization and flavor systems is critical to making great products.”

By working together, Gilleladen believes the companies have been able to unlock the synergies between ingredients and process to produce a variety of desired thicknesses and mouthfeel. 

According to Anne Sinha, marketing director at CP Kelco, this collaboration represents a new way of helping our respective customers accelerate their product development and access technical application support globally. 

“With access to teams who know each other and work together well and who are closely connected to other global ingredient producers, customers can benefit from an integrated team of world-leading experts with insights across their entire development chain,” notes Sinha. 

Prototypes can be customized
To date, a range of vegurt prototypes are available to food producers for tasting, and they have received positive feedback from select customers. 

The prototype recipes can be tweaked to meet specific requirements for sugar, protein, fat, texture and flavor, thanks to the knowledge in fermentation, stabilization, flavor, processing and packaging offered by the collaboration.

“Formulating plant-based vegurts is not straightforward, and we want to help our customers by offering our joint technical expertise,” adds Tora Jorn, sales technical service manager at CP Kelco. 

“Together, we look forward to this opportunity of sharing our support and helping with the development of the flavors, textures and nutritional profiles our customers are targeting when they embark on the plant-based, shelf-stable vegurts journey.”

The vegurts will be available for tasting at the CP Kelco booth at Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) in Paris next month. 

Earlier this year, MISTA member Chr. Hansen and other flavor giants merged their tech knowledge to co-create a plant-based, high-performance yogurt base. 

Edited by Elizabeth Green