New yogurt cultures with WOW effect!

Chr. Hansen sets out to change the low fat dairy landscape with new Creamy and Premium cultures.

For the third year in a row global bioscience company Chr. Hansen launches a series of new YoFlex® and probiotic nu-trish® yogurt cultures on March 1, 2012.

This time the focus of Chr. Hansen’s well-oiled innovation machine has been on developing cultures with second-to-none taste and texturing properties, among other things - but not solely - to perform well in low fat milk.

More than 20 million tons of yogurt is consumed every year corresponding to each person on earth eating up to four kg a year. So far less than 20% of this volume is low fat yogurt even though low fat represents a major part of new product launches over the past five years.

Taste is king … and back to nature!
“If the amount of yogurt with reduced fat has not grown any faster it is because the quality simply has not been good enough. Consumers refuse to accept a poor taste or a thin, watery mouthfeel, no matter how healthy the product may be,” explains Morten Boesen, Marketing Manager, Fermented Milk Cultures, Chr. Hansen.

“Another predominant market trend, “back to nature”, has further made it complicated for yogurt producers. The natural trend is driving product development towards using an absolute minimum of ingredients, which for yogurt means milk, cultures and possibly fruit – that is, no stabilizers, thickeners and flavors added to compensate for the lack of fat. So far high quality yogurt has been contradictory to healthy and fat reduced - but not anymore! Chr. Hansen’s new cultures can do the trick and unite them,” promises Boesen.

Three-in-one … with extras!
The new portfolio of seven cultures, three of them with the well-documented BB-12® probiotic strain for improved gut and immune health, enables dairies worldwide to deliver on all three parameters at the same time: Exquisite taste, healthy and clean label.

“The Creamy and Premium cultures developed over the past two years provide the creaminess, texture and good taste normally provided by fat and additives, so there is no longer any excuse for not producing delicious, clean, natural yogurt with optimal nutritional properties,” Boesen says.

Go for it … or go Greek!
At the other end of the scale indulgence is seen as a mega trend in the dairy industry, and with Chr. Hansen’s new cultures consumers can get a true WOW feeling from luxury, dessert-like, yet healthy, yogurt.

Another well-suited application is Greek yogurt, one of the fastest moving segments in the market.