Flavor and stabilizer manufacturer David Michael & Co., Philadelphia, has entered into a strategic alliance with Balchem Encapsulates, a business segment of New Hampton, N.Y.-based Balchem Corp., to manufacture and market microencapsulated flavors throughout North America. Under the alliance, Balchem will microencapsulate a broad range of flavors for David Michael. The flavors, to be marketed under the "MichaelCap microencapsulated with Balchem™" trademark, will have applications within dairy, tea and coffee, bakery, meat, nutraceutical and other food and beverage categories. It will be offered with multiple coating materials for controlled release and application-tailored flavor-delivery systems. According to David Michael, the MichaelCap technology also will be able to co-encapsulate multiple flavoring and non-flavoring ingredients.

Linguagen Corp., Cranbury, N.J., announced a partnership with Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, to assess the potency of bitter blockers. The research is part of an effort to enhance the flavors and nutritional values of consumer foods, beverages and oral care products. Rutgers researchers will build on Linguagen's research efforts, pursuing new ways to use the bitter blocker AMP, a nucleotide naturally present in foods, in edible products. Linguagen's patented research on bitter blockers marked the first time a molecular biology approach had been used to successfully identify compounds that decrease the perception of bitterness caused by bitter-tasting molecules.

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific agency, has filed for a patent on a process that turns whey proteins left over from cheesemaking into crunchy snacks such as cheese curls, corn puffs and energy bars. The process uses a twin-screw extruder — a heated barrel with two mixing screws inside — to cook and mix whey protein isolate with corn flour and form the snack food. According to ARS, final crunchiness is determined by the product's moisture content and temperature as it leaves the extruder. The snacks feature an average protein content of 35 percent, compared to just 2 to 5 percent for traditional products.

Denmark-based Danisco A/S signed an agreement with France's Rhodia to "negotiate exclusively for the takeover of Rhodia's food-ingredients business." The agreement excludes the company's food phosphates business. Rhodia's global food-ingredients business supplies cultures, natural texturants and food-protection solutions to dairy, dessert, beverage and health, bakery, and meat and savory product manufacturers. According to Danisco, the transaction will be completed during the second quarter of 2004, pending legal authorizations.

ABIC International Consultants Inc., Fairfield, N.J., announced an "intense, comprehensive, state-of-the-art analysis of obesity in America." According to the consulting firm, the study will examine the scientific, consumer and regulatory sides to the obesity issue. A team of scientists, marketing professionals, regulatory experts and management from ABIC International Consultants then will use the data collected to develop "a series of strategies" for the food and related industries to address the obesity problem. The study's findings will be available to subscribers and sponsors later this year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recent bestowal of GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status for betaine in selected applications paves the way for the ingredient's use in many food and beverage applications, says Denmark-based Danisco. The company has dedicated more than 20 years to betaine, also known as trimethylglycine or TMG, pioneering the extraction and separation process. In the United States, the ingredient shows up most often in heart supplements. But the product's inclusion in a range of food and beverage formulations could help consumers fend off ailments ranging from cardiovascular disease to Alzheimer's disease, says Danisco. Betaine also reduces water activity in foods, extending shelf life, and improves flavors.

Chr. Hansen Inc. is nearly finished with the construction of a new
$3.5 million freezer that will double the freezer capacity at its Milwaukee dairy culture production plant. The company says the new freezer will allow it to greatly expand production of its DVS™ cultures at the facility to meet increased demand.