EPI Ingredients launches versatile yogurt-based product concept

02 Aug 2017 --- EPI Ingredients has introduced SoFlexi to the market, the first concept of a series poised to grow in the coming years. Designed to showcase the company’s application expertise and dairy ingredients know-how, as well as to promote the use of EPILAC Lowfat Yogurt Powder 48 in new product developments, SoFlexi was created with the end-consumer in mind.

“SoFlexi is a powdered mix that allows consumers to create fresh yogurt-tasting snacks at their convenience. Whether they are in the mood for a drinking yogurt, some ice cream or an acid drink, they can indulge almost instantly thanks to SoFlexi,” claims Mathieu Lucot, Marketing Manager at EPI Ingredients.

“But the goal for EPI Ingredients is not to sell the concept. Our objective with SoFlexi it is to drive innovation and help our customers visualize what they can do with our ingredients, all the way from the bulk ingredient to actual CPG marketing,” he explains. 

“Consumers today are looking for health in their nutrition,” Lucot tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“Yogurt has this healthy image for the consumers, but it is very complicated to put a fresh yogurt in your bag in the morning and eat it as a snack. With SoFlexi, you only need fresh water, and you can easily eat your drinking yogurt as a snack,” he explains. 

According to Lucot, this product took six months to develop. “Fermented powders are our star range,” he claims. “The future idea for us is to prove that they are a nutritional power, in particular for the gut health. Actually, we have some dry dairy ingredients with alive bacteria, which they don't have the same beneficial effect as a fresh yogurt - that is our next challenge.”

“The next big innovation, in my opinion, will be the on-the-way yogurt, with an innovative galenic form. We know that thermalized yogurt exists, with long term BBD, and it is a big trend in Asia because of the weather condition. The innovation could answer to lots of consumers, all over the world,” Lucot notes.

SoFlexi is the first concept of the range SoUnik, designed to showcase the unique characteristics of EPI Ingredients’ product offering. Other concepts will soon be added to this range to get manufacturers excited about new healthy indulgence developments featuring the company’s ingredients and that will satisfy consumers’ cravings for both taste and well-being.

SoFlexi comes in individual pouches containing 40g (≈ 1.41oz) of a powdered mix made of only 5 ingredients and including EPILAC Lowfat Yogurt Powder 48. To cater to consumers who are always pressed for time and looking for convenient, “on-the-go” snack options, SoFlexi has been developed to allow quick and easy transformation into one of three products:

• Blend it with ice cubes and milk to get an instant milkshake
• Simply mix it with water for a delicious and convenient drinking yogurt
• Add your favorite fruit juice and you’ve created a tasty acid drink

Regardless of the chosen application, EPILAC Lowfat Yogurt Powder 48 brings natural acidity and a pleasant yogurt flavor as well as a smooth creamy texture to the end product.

EPILAC powders
EPILAC ingredients are a range of premium fermented powders – yogurt powder, quark powder and fermented milk powder – with differentiating features such as, among others, the presence of live cultures in some of them. 

For example, EPILAC Lowfat Yogurt Powder 48 offers the possibility of calling the end-product “yogurt”, in compliance with French regulations. With a strong yet pleasant dairy flavor and some natural acidity, these all-natural powders are a true asset in developing innovative yet indulgent food and beverages, which is what the company set out to illustrate with this new finished product concept, SoFlexi. 

Easy to implement, they can be incorporated into a wide variety of food matrixes such as ice cream, frozen yogurt as well as fillings and icings for bakery products, the segment in which the “yogurt-like” taste is very trendy. Beyond these exclusive functional and sensory attributes, EPILAC fermented powders could also impart health benefits, as they contain the same live bacteria (Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus) as the ones found in yogurt. These are known to help balance the gut flora as well as strengthen the immune system, which makes EPILAC powders an interesting option to formulate nutrition-oriented products.

By Elizabeth Green