New pasteurised fresh cheese possibility excites Premium Ingredients

Spanish-based ingredients specialist Premium Ingredients is set to launch a new range of ingredients at Gulfood 2012 in Dubai, one of which is a novel concept that allows for the production of pasteurised fresh cheese without whey separation.

Premilac XLK-11021 and Premigum XLK-11022 is a solution recommended for use in pasteurised fresh cheese produced by fermentation without whey separation; cream cheese produced with this blend can be developed with cream alone, without the need for milk.

Discussing this ingredient combination, Ralf Neuendorf, Premium Ingredients’ marketing and business development manager told DairyReporter.com: “The combination of these two ingredients enables use of a different manufacturing process for producing fresh cheese without compromising on texture and quality.

Significant cost savings

The new production process meant significant cost savings, Neuendorf said, since customers were able to use less milk and eliminate the issue of whey disposal:

He said: “The biggest challenge was meeting customer requirements in terms of texture and flavour using a different production process. Furthermore, our target was to offer a very flexible concept enabling easy adjustments to the texture.”

“This concept is extending our current product offering for processed cheese products, and confirming our position as a global leader for functional solutions for processed cheese and pizza cheese.”

Discussing Premium’s performance more broadly, Neuendorf said the main driver for product development in cheese and pizza solutions was cost reduction.

“Quality comes as secondary, and some consumers in some regions are prepared to lower the quality of products if it comes with a significant cost saving.”

Premium Ingredients saw itself as a global leader in processed cheese and pizza cheese, Neuendorf added. “Our solutions fit very well with customer requirements and keep us busy developing new business. However, we are not standing still, and are already developing solutions for the problems and challenges of tomorrow,” he said.

Other innovations

Other new innovations to the company’s range at Gulfood include Premitex XLK-11054 for producing cheese triangle portions, Premilac XLK-11001 and Premigum XLK-8003, which used together can (according to Premium) produce a cheese spread with a high fat content without cheese.

The blend also provided flavour to the finished product and provided a creamy texture without gelling, the company said.

Finally, Premitex XLK-10016, is marketed as a “complete stabilizer solution” for individually wrapped sliced cheese, and Premium said it provided end products with a “long and firm texture with a low protein content of minimum 12.5%”.