News

Chr. Hansen launches new yogurt, probiotic cultures

3 Oct 2017

Chr. Hansen is launching a product range that it believes is well-suited to tap into the opportunities this new market trend is offering: two new YoFlex (yogurt) cultures and two new nu-trish (probiotic) cultures.

The market for fermented dairy alternatives has shown strong growth in recent years albeit from a small base, notes Chr. Hansen. Today, it says, the segment constitutes less than 1% of the fermented foods market but it has seen the highest growth rates within the category in 2015 and 2016 (source: Euromonitor).

In August, Chr. Hansen commissioned a consumer survey to better understand usage of and attitudes toward dairy alternative products. The survey uncovered that dairy alternatives are seen as a supplement to the existing dairy-based products enabling more choice and dietary options, and that the modern consumer values variation: more than half of the consumers asked have purchased a dairy alternative food or beverage. Among those, 77% want to see more options in the grocery store, indicating that dairy alternative products have a lot of room for growth.

Now, Chr. Hansen is launching a product range that it believes is well-suited to tap into the opportunities this new market trend is offering: two new YoFlex (yogurt) cultures and two new nu-trish (probiotic) cultures.

“As the market leader for starter cultures, we intensively study the new market needs and track up-and-coming trends that change the food and beverage industry. Now we are ready to launch a series of cultures for dairy alternatives that enable the producer to make healthy plant based products with the qualities we traditionally ascribe to dairy yogurt,” said Lasse Vigel Joergensen, Global Marketing Manager – Fresh Dairy. “First and foremost our cultures bring the mild and fresh taste and smooth texture we know from yogurt into plant based alternatives. They produce safe and healthy products, and with a version of world’s best documented probiotic Bifidobacterium BB-12, we can bring the goodness of probiotics to consumers who do not consume dairy yogurts on a daily basis.”

While health is a key consumer purchase driver, the company says, the dairy alternatives products still has to taste good. Chr. Hansen claims that it is renowned for its ability to develop cultures that can bring out the best in food and ensure the taste that is required by selective consumers.

“A product can be as healthy as you could possibly imagine; but if it doesn’t taste good, it will never take off. The good taste and the opportunity to choose between appealing flavors are what will keep consumers coming back,” said Joergensen.

Two dairy alternatives concepts have been developed to present the new culture portfolio to customers: SoyFresh, which leverages on all the good qualities from yogurt, without stabilizers, and CoCoFresh, a trendy indulgence product based on coconut milk with a high fat content.

Another important property of the new range is the speed at which the cultures are said to be able to acidify the plant-derived base.

“We have used our expertise in culture design and fermentation process and applied it to non-dairy bases. Unlike in milk where we deal with dairy protein and fat, composition and choice of ingredients for plant bases are endless. The new culture range brings in a pleasant taste and flavor and in some cases, the opportunity to increase acidification speed,” said Mirjana Curic-Bawden, Principal Scientist.