Use of dairy permeate powder will soar in Asia

ARLA Foods Ingredients is among those expecting the market for dairy permeate powder to soar as soon as a Codex standard for this ingredient is introduced, within a year or so.

At the Codex conference this year, dairy companies said they would prepare to develop a standard on the use of dairy permeate in food and beverage products.  

When this standard is set, Arla will be one of the first to offer food-grade permeate as a free-flowing powder. The company’s production facility in Denmark manufactures Kosher and Halal certified whey permeate. It also has joint venture facilities with Sancor in Argentina and Tine in Norway.

Arla sees the Asian market to be one of the biggest for permeate. “Most significantly, we hope China will authorize its use – and if that happens it is possible that other markets in Asia will follow,” said Morten Kaas, Director General Foods at Arla Foods Ingredients.  “We’re confident that we’ll be able to fast-track the creation of the Codex standard so that it is in place during summer 2016. This gives food manufacturers an opportunity to start formulation trials now to see how permeate can benefit their business.”

A by-product of whey manufacturing, permeate has many applications in the food and beverage industry. It is a carbohydrate ingredient applied as bulk sweetener in chocolate, sweets, snacks, ice cream, and drinks. It is also a low-cost replacement to milk solids, and doesn’t affect taste and texture when added to food products. Nor does it require changes to processing parameters.

Whey permeate, an alternative to whey powder, demineralized whey powder and lactose, also raises product quality in many applications.

Based on data from the International Dairy Federation (IDF), the industry produced about 733,000 tonnes of permeate in 2014.

The lack of a Codex agreement now is holding back many countries from using this ingredient in food and beverage.  While some countries allow the use of permeate, others are wary of not having a consensus on labelling.

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