DMI’s Innovation Forum Focuses on End Users

Dairy Management Inc.’s 2003 Innovation Forum, which took place in late January, was ripe with testimony indicating those failing to move forward will fall by the wayside as novel concepts take the lead.

“Why innovate?” asked Bill Haines, DMI’s v.p. of business-to-business marketing, to the approximate 140 attendees. “It’s simple. Times change. Nothing stands still.”

The event represents DMI’s commitment to guiding the dairy industry toward ever-increasing innovation levels. It is the most recent in DMI’s series of U.S. dairy farmer-funded events aimed at gathering industry input and utilizing it to guide the organization’s research priorities.

The Innovation Forum included presentations by experts on change. If one concept stood head and shoulders above the rest at the meeting, it was convenience. At a time when consumers increasingly are strapped for time, matching products to today’s often frantic lifestyles will yield marketplace winners, the experts said. And if you want to make that convenience element even more palatable to consumers, inject it with a healthy dose of health.

Haines wrapped up the two-day event by saying, “Everything we’re going to do starts with the consumer. Recognize that we need to find out what’s on the consumer’s mind first and let that dictate what you do.”

For questions on the Innovation Forum, contact the DMI Technical Support Hotline at 800/248-8829.

Dairy plants now have the opportunity to save time and money in process and quality control by implementing the new FoodScan for compositional analysis of solid and semi-solid products. FoodScan can be placed at the production line to make immediate adjustments to the manufacturing process. By measuring a complete range of parameters dairy plants are able to control and optimize yield and product consistency. In the quality control lab, FoodScan analyses raw materials and finished products to ensure product quality and detect possible faults before product ships to the customer.

FOSS North America
800/547-6275
Write in 417
www.foss.dk

The Designer Direct Culture™ program fosters rapid development of customized cultures for the cheese and cultured products industries through blending of acidification, flavor, thickening and probiotic “blocks.” These functional blocks are kept in stock in frozen pellet form so they can be blended in a variety of ways. This approach increases Degussa’s R&D flexibility and reduces response time in meeting customer requests.

Degussa BioActives
800/654-2396
Write in 418
www.degussa.com

Yo-Flex™ is a new generation of yogurt cultures from Chr. Hansen. The line includes a new probiotic yogurt culture called Yo-Fast 20, which develops a very mild flavor and has high-texturing properties, making it possible to reduce or even replace the use of stabilizers or gelling agents. This is particularly attractive in children’s products. Furthermore, minimal post-acidification guarantees longer shelflife of products. These attributes have been very difficult to obtain with traditional cultures.

Chr. Hansen Inc.
800/558-0802
Write in 419
www.chr-hansen.com

WILD Flavors recently installed a UHT aseptic processor, which has the flexibility to heat beverages either by indirect steam or by steam injection. Direct steam injection allows for a very rapid pasteurization of product followed by flash cooling under vacuum. While the short time of 3-7 seconds under high temperatures of 260-270ÞF provides less thermal abuse to the beverage, including the flavor, as compared to indirect methods, flash cooling does lead to some loss of flavor volatiles. WILD can test for the effect of pasteurization by steam injection and then develop flavors with better stability under commercial conditions. This helps ensure the flavor will deliver a great taste not only in the lab but also in the market.

WILD Flavors Inc.
859/342-3600
Write in 420
www.wildflavors.com

Vitex™ ABN series was designed specifically for retort and UHT milk applications that use either coffee, chocolate or cappuccino as flavors or bases. Since coffee bases or extracts are acidic in nature, the pH must be buffered to maintain protein integrity during the harsh heating cycles common with UHT or retort processes. The blends are used to help buffer milk proteins and protect them from precipitation. A second advantage with the blends is that they maintain the suspension of cocoa particles in the final beverage. They create a matrix that entraps cocoa particles, not allowing them to settle out of solution.

Degussa Texturant Systems
800/241-9485
Write in 421
www.texturantsystems.com

New cultured products require specialized processes and ingredients to achieve the desired result. Danisco offers a wide range of ingredients and employs experts in every area of the yogurt making process, from cultures to flavors, and everything in between. Danisco is also equipped with a full pilot plant laboratory, which houses the same equipment most manufacturers use, including a long hold HTST, UHT, vat processors and tubular coolers.

Danisco
800/255-6837
Write in 422
www.danisco.com

No-sugar-added ice cream is one of the hottest trends in today’s frozen dessert industry, and now it is possible to formulate a great-tasting, no-sugar-added ice cream using the polyol maltitol. Research conducted at Penn State shows that Maltisweet M95 maltitol syrup, which has a higher maltitol assay than any other maltitol syrup in the marketplace, can replace all of the added sugar in ice cream. No additional bulking agents such as polydextrose or any high-intensity sweeteners are necessary to produce an ice cream that tastes like it was made with sucrose.

SPI Polyols Inc.
800/789-9755
Write in 423
www.spipolyols.com