FiE: Valio’s Eila MPC-65 sets new standards for milk protein concentrates
16 Jan 2024 | Valio
At FiE 2023, in Frankfurt, Germany, we sat down with Jarna Tanskanen, Valio’s business manager for powders, baby food and ice cream, about its Eila MPC-65 offering. We explore what makes it unique compared to other milk protein concentrates on the market, how it overcomes the grittiness present in many protein powders, its ease of digestibility and its many and varied application potentials. We also discuss what we can expect from the company in 2024.
Hello everybody, this is William Bradford Nichols, the editor for Nutrition Insight, and I'm here live at Food Ingredients Europe in Frankfurt, Germany with Jarna Taskinen, the business manager for powders, baby food and ice cream at Valio.
Hello, Jana, how are you today?
Oh, nice to meet you, William.
Nice to meet you.
I've got some questions for you.
And if it's OK, I would like to just jump right in.
Please go ahead.
All right, so what makes Valio Ella MPC 65 unique compared to other milk protein concentrates on the market, and what specific markets and trends does the new offering speak to?
Actually, As we know that more than half of the coal consumers think and say that when you have this protein claims on the package, they think that the product is healthy.
And it's also like over 60% of the global consumers are leading a fairly or highly active lifestyle, so this is something that we have tackled to offer offer a product to meet these needs, to meet the active lifestyle, protein trend.
And also we understand the customers prefer to extend their protein portfolios, for example, and we have a Offering here.
How does the product ensure, as it says, a clean, milky taste without the common issues of like sandiness and off flavors and different textures?
That's a good question.
Actually, it all comes from the milk quality, so we source the milk from our own farmers in Valio.
And then we have this lactose free technology which we use to, to, to get rid of the lactose and and this technology plus the really good raw meat quality, they together.
Have this means of making, making the protein concentrate not grainy at all, so you don't have the graininess in your mouthfeel and also it's it has a good processability so.
This is for B2B customers, so I think it's quite important that the powder actually behaves in the process.
That's one key, key parameter here as.
I agree.
I remember when I was younger and would go to the gym all the time, and you would drink protein afterwards and it felt like you were drinking chocolate flavored sand, like you were at the beach.
And also the milk quality ensures that we don't, we can have a very short ingredient list so you don't have the flavor is clean and milky, so you don't have to have any masking agents, for example, with this powder.
Oh wow, so not that chemical residue left over either.
No, so you should taste for yourself.
I will.
What are the, so how does the lactose-free aspect of LAMP 65 kind of contribute to better digestive comfort for consumers, and can you explain the technology process which you mentioned a little bit about eliminating lactose?
Many of us are lactose intolerant, and we were the first in 2001 to launch the lactose-free meal, totally lactose-free meal.
And we know that this lactose free itself it it it's good for your digestive so you don't have the stomach aches with this and yeah.
I think that's that's the uniqueness of this product.
Typically the lactose free, you can reach for that when you have milk protein isolates, so you only have the protein, but we want it to go lower because we know that when you have A bit lower concentrate the protein amount that then affects that the processability is better and also the mouth feel is better and the actual taste is better.
And the lactose-free is the unique combo with this protein concentrate.
Oh, very interesting.
What are the specific benefits of using LAMP 65 in high protein dairy snacks, and what are some of the other potential applications for it as far as like yogurts or protein bars or pastries and things like that?
Actually, the beauty of this powder is it's in.
So it can be used in multiple applications, and this is something that we have truly put some effort on so that we can offer our customers different applications.
So you can use this for yogurt, you have a high protein yogurt.
But also in neutral products such as puddings, which is quite trendy nowadays, and also in UHD drinks, so you can have a direct or indirect UHD process and it is a huge stable there.
And also you can have a smoothie-like structures with this, with the drinks, so it increases the viscosity.
And also we just tested protein cookies, so the flavor was quite OK, and again, no sandiness, no graininess, and high protein ice cream is something that we like, we love ice cream.
So high protein, lactose free ice cream, high protein, lactose free ice cream.
That sounds amazing.
Can you tell us about some of the other products you're highlighting this year?
Right, so we, we have actually we have several offerings for all life stages, so from the infant to elderly people, and actually we have launched this year the S&P V S&P Prime which is for infant, B2B customers to be used there.
So and also we, we do have offerings for reduced sugar.
So that's a mega trend for consumers and with our lactose-free powders we can, you know, reach these targets that the customers have for the for the reduced sugar.
That's quite a synergy you can create.
It is, yes.
One more question about LNP 65.
How does it maintain its organoleptic properties in different food processing conditions like baking and freezing?
What we understand from our application tests is that it is quite good powder in organoleptic properties in terms of the, you know, you can have ice cream or a pudding, and you can have UHD drinks.
Actually you can have a really high protein.
In the drinks as we tested among the German consumers in a consumer study earlier, so we wanted to make sure that we have our applications are really tasting because the taste is the number one purchasing reason for consumers.
Final question.
What can we expect from Valio in 2024?
The sustainability is, , it's in everybody's mouth nowadays, so we, we have many actions in regards to that.
And also, we want to be carbon neutral by 2035, so we have many actions in that sector as.
And also we will have some offerings to meet the mega trends, the protein trends, the sugar reduction, for example, and, and you can have here some tastings of the APC 65.
That's all very exciting.
Thank you so much for talking to us today Ana.
I hope you have a great rest of your time in the show and thanks for sharing your insights.
Thank you.
