Inspiring dairy technology

In April 2006 Valio won a Gold European FoodTec Award at Anuga Foodtec for their lactose-free milk technology, used to process such products as Valio Lactose free milk drink, Emmi Lactose free milk drink and Kaiku Lactose free milk drink.The technology completely eliminates lactose from milk without affecting the taste – with the added bonus of fewer calories – thus benefiting consumers with lactose-intolerance. New Food spoke with Mr Olli Tossavainen, Research Manager at Valio, to find out more.

Award-winning technology

The German Agricultural Society (DLG) presented the prestigious European FoodTec Awards to ‘food industry processing companies and suppliers of innovative concepts that have been successfully implemented in the European food industry’.

Only five ‘Gold’ awards were presented this year for ‘products with added new functions or the use of a new concept, resulting in significant process improvements’ and Valio was one of the five recipients. So what innovations lie behind this new technology and what are the benefits?

“Valio Ltd has patented two methods to produce lactose free milk drinks,” states Tossavainen: “The first of these is based on chromatographic separation, which is a method widely used in the sugar processing industries and the second is based on different membrane technologies.”

World class R&D

Valio’s research and development (R&D) department work on developing new techniques and processing methods for improved manufacturing of dairy products. The company’s commitment to their work is renowned throughout the dairy industry, largely due to the work of Professor A.I.Virtanen who took charge of Valio’s laboratory in 1921 and went on to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

“Our innovations are mostly based on applications of processes in new ways,” comments Kalle Leporanta,Valio Ltd.

The two patented methods for lactose free milk drinks represent important technological developments for consumers with lactose intolerance. “With both processes Valio is able to produce milk drinks that are free of lactose (less than 0.01 per cent),” explains Tossavainen. “The composition of the resulting milk is similar to that of normal milk (except for the lactose) and it has the normal taste of milk with no extra sweetness, as found in many lactosereduced milks.”

In agreement

Valio manufactures several lactose free milk drinks, which are primarily sold in Finland and Sweden (as this region is more disposed to suffer from lactose intolerance) and, most recently, Belgium. In terms of the actual processing technology itself,Valio operates a licensing basis, which means that local partners manufacture products under Valio’s technology license (currently in Switzerland, Spain and South Korea). The company also has an arrangement with Tetra Pak for the membrane technology part of the process, whereby Tetra Pak can provide the production line – i.e. the means for carrying out ultrafiltration – or part of the production line, should the customer choose.

Applications

But can this technology only be applied to milk, or can other products benefit?

“Valio technology can be applied to different kinds of dairy products,” answers Tossavainen. “These include pasteurised, UHT or ESL (extended shelf life) milks”.Valio currently manufactures these products in Finland, including semi-skimmed and skimmed lactose free milk drinks, and a UHT version of semi-skimmed milk that is currently exported to Belgium via a subsidiary company,Valio Vache-Bleue. “Also, other dairy products such as fermented drinks etc. are possible using the lactose free milk drink as a base.”

But what plans for the future?

Last September Valio launched a new milk drink product for weight control, called Valio ProFeel, which – again – utilises this same technology. More recently, in January 2006,Valio launched a series of yoghurts under this same brand name. Much research continues with ProFeel and (for now) this seems to be the direction that Valio’s technology is taking. Watch this space for further developments.