There is another way
ICL Food Specialties together with its subsidiary Prolactal has now developed a new concept to produce tasty, creamy dairy spreads as an alternative to cream cheese.
The new product, called BEKAPLUS® DP 302, allows the manufacture of a spreadable product with very smooth and creamy texture at a pH value of 5.2, similar to cream cheese. However, it completely replaces fresh cheese or curd as raw materials. Its stabilized, standardized protein base is suitable for baking stable fillings and avoids syneresis. As a result, it is an innovative solution that helps to diversify many portfolios that bene t from creamy spreads similar to cream cheese.
Visitors to Vitafoods Geneva will have an opportunity to test the product that has not yet hit the shelves. ICL Food Specialties first presented it at Food Ingredients Europe in Paris last December.
Easy handling and processing
While BEKAPLUS® DP 302 demonstrates the benefits of cream cheese, it avoids the problems associated with its production. Unlike the many steps and expensive equipment necessary to manufacture cream cheese, BEKAPLUS® DP 302 can be turned into tasty products in one simple step using simple equipment.
For a tasty Japaleno chili dip, for example, water, BEKAPLUS® DP 302 and vegetable fat are pre-blended in a simple cooker or Stephan cooker, heated by direct steam injection. After holding it at high speed, spices are added and the chili preparation can be stirred in, before finally hot-filling sliced Jalapeno pepper. The result is a smooth, shiny, creamy protein dip with a zing.
The simple production process requires no curd or quark and results in no by-products whatsoever. There is also no need for fermentation.
Unique ready-to-use solution
But there are not just benefits to processing. The product itself is also of very high quality and convenience.
Standardized raw materials mean that food manufacturers can rely on stable product quality when processing. They will find it easy to standardize their final product because of BEKAPLUS® DP 302’s constant protein content, which results in a high-quality final product. As such it can be considered as a cost-effective alternative to traditional cream cheese solutions with maximum convenience.
When experts mix
Based on milk proteins, hydrocolloids, starch, phosphates and citrate, BEKAPLUS® DP 302 is the result of the combination of ICL Food Specialties’ expertise in texture and stability with Prolactal’s exquisite protein production capabilities. In 2015 Prolactal became part of ICL Food Specialties. The company is dedicated to separating milk and whey into their essential components using the latest technology, and to refining them for further processing within the food industry. As part
of ICL Food Specialties, Prolactal offers a diverse portfolio of functional ingredients and extensive application experience. The ICL Food Specialties team has the expertise needed to inspire customers to innovate faster by selecting the right ingredients for function earlier in the development cycle.
This cooperation has resulted in a truly unique, already stabilized, standardized protein base to produce dairy-based spreads.
Excitement amongst food producers
The food industry, including manufacturers of processed cheese, cream cheese and vegetable fat spreads have already taken
note of BEKAPLUS® DP 302 as a convenient solution to extend their product portfolio. They are unanimously attracted by the fact that the product allows them to create innovative foods using their existing equipment. First customer trials with both sweet, cheesecake-style, and savory, oven pizza bread-style applications are already underway, currently awaiting the results of storage tests. Once the tests are completed, we can expect to see the first BEKAPLUS® DP 302-inspired food innovations on our retail shelves.
Dr. Andrea Maurer,
Global Lead Dairy, ICL Food Specialties
