Five minutes at FI Europe with …
Aaron Fanning – Senior Research Scientist, Fonterra R&D Centre
Agro Food Industry Hi-tech: What innovations are you presenting at FIE 2017?
Aaron Fanning: We are presenting a range of dairy protein ingredients, including whey protein concentrates and whey protein isolates. The main area of interest for whey protein is still sport nutrition but there is increasing interest in this ingredient in the areas of healthy aging and medical nutrition platforms. NZMP have functional whey ingredients that make it possible to formulate whey protein in to UHT beverages. For example here we provide a milk beverage with a whopping 14% of protein added, resisting pasteurization where other proteins would just start gelling.
AF: How do you manage that?
AaFa: It is a mix of whey and milk proteins. We have a functional whey protein that is designed to maintain a smooth, velvety texture at high temperature, and milk protein with similar characteristics, thanks to a proprietary processing step that alters the casein structure to keep it from denaturating.
AF: What examples of sport nutrition benefit do your proteins provide?
AaFa: An example could be our newSureProtein™ Fast Milk Protein ingredient. This is a milk protein concentrate -so, free from the possible off taste of whey- which is quickly absorbed by the body, providing a remarkably higher amino acid level in the blood within the first two hours of consumption. This characteristic optimizes muscle recovery and the building of lean muscle. It provides basically the same benefits of whey protein, stimulating protein synthesis.
AF: What do you answer to the rise of plant protein?
AaFa: Typically dairy proteins have a better nutritional quality, providing more of the essential amino acids needed by the body. Whey and milk proteins have a bland or absent flavour, while plant proteins often have a distinctive, strong flavour. Of course it depends on the preferences of the consumers, and we are not in principle against plant proteins. We offer blends, for example, of plant and milk/whey proteins, combining the nutritional benefits of both worlds.
AF: Infant nutrition is another field where you are investing a lot.
AaFa: Indeed. We have a large offer in this respect, from prebiotics to protein hydrolysates. Recently we have added new range of products to our SureStartTM paediatrics potfolio, called galacto-oligosaccharides or GOS. These are prebiotic fibers that can be added to infant formula to make its profile more similar to breast milk.
AF: A prebiotic fiber coming naturally from milk?
AaFa: Well, they naturally occur in breast milk but not in bovine milk. We use an enzymatic process to convert the lactose in the bovine milk oligosaccharides into galactose. This makes the GOS more similar to human milk. It does not only help improve the quality of gut microbiota but also improves the absorption of several minerals.
AF: What future directions do you see for prebiotics in healthy nutrition?
AaFa: Gut issues are a major cause of medical problems across the globe. We see that the biggest growth for prebiotics would be in healthy aging and medical nutrition. Healthy aging will be an immense market in China, given the size of the aging population, and the market is going to explode there. In medical nutrition an interesting target is hospital food, which is notoriously not very good. Adding milk-derived fiber oligosaccharides could be a quick way to improve substantially their nutritional profile, improving patient recovery.
AF: And how are you working towards that?
AaFa: We just formed a medical nutrition business unit in September. The aim is to provide innovation and managing the whole profile of products from this point of view. We want to provide all our expertise in a one-stop shop to support our customers on demand. We aim to sell expertise and technology, not only ingredients.
