This openness to change is being driven by consumers’ strong desire to act on food waste – a massive 98% of those surveyed were actively trying to minimise food waste, driven by various factors such as financial concerns, environmental considerations, and mindfulness of world hunger.

Meanwhile, 69% of consumers expressed an inclination to purchase products formulated to reduce food waste. This represents a significant opportunity for the food industry to innovate and create products that meet evolving consumer expectations.

The study, which involved 5,154 consumers across 10 countries, found that 72% of respondents believe that extending the shelf life of a product would help them reduce waste. Additionally, 74% of consumers consider preservatives to be important when making food purchases.

Role of preservation

A total 82% of respondents expressed acceptance of natural preservatives, while 50% of consumers are open to purchasing products with artificial preservatives – although buying patterns indicate a higher acceptance of these solutions.

Commenting on the research findings, Bert De Vegt, VP of Food Preservation and Protection at Kerry, said: “Our research clearly demonstrates that consumers have a strong desire to reduce food waste in their own homes and they increasingly recognise the role of preservation in achieving this goal. As inflationary pressures remain, preventing products from going to waste has become more crucial than ever.

“With 29 September marking the UN International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, these findings further highlight an urgent need for the food industry to maintain action on food waste and improve the shelf life of products where possible. By doing so, companies can meet the evolving demands of consumers who are increasingly conscious of the impact of food waste on themselves, society and the planet.”

As the market leader in preservation, Kerry’s portfolio includes unique sodium-free buffered vinegars, potassium acetates, multifunctional systems to solve complex preservation challenges in meat products, and a range of fermented wheat products for mould control in bread applications.

Kerry also sits on the Consumer Goods Forum’s Coalition of Action on Food Waste and uses insights to help customers and consumers demystify on-pack labels and date information.

Methodology

In early 2023, Kerry embarked on a comprehensive research initiative in collaboration with C+R Research, Qualtrics, and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) to gain a deeper understanding of consumers’ opinions and behaviours regarding food waste. The study involved week-long, in-depth interviews and journalling sessions with 60 consumers in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, France, and Thailand, as well as an extensive quantitative exploration with 5,154 consumers across the aforementioned countries plus Brazil, South Africa, Germany, Australia and Canada. Access the report here.

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Gerina Eberl-Hancock became the leader of the sales and marketing team of the Hochdorf Group as of 1 May. She completed her Master of Business Administration in California (US) and worked in senior management positions in marketing and business development at Nestlé SA in Switzerland, Germany, the US and North Africa from 1997 to 2020; most recently as managing director for Food & Beverages at Nestlé Maghreb.

Lukas Hartmann joined the Hochdorf Group in 2017 as head of Baby Care Development. In 2021, the Baby Care and Food Solutions segments were merged into the Innovation, Research & Development department. Hartmann completed a Master of Science in Food Science at the ETH in Zurich and a Master of Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen. From 2009 to 2013 he worked as a project manager in research and development at Nestlé in the Product Technology Center in the Infant Cereal Nutrition division. From 2013, as a process engineer at Nestlé Suisse in Konolfingen, he was responsible for the development, implementation and commissioning of part of an investment project for the manufacture of infant formula.

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Grace Hall, a final-year BSc (Hons) Agri-Food Marketing with Business student from Atherstone, Warwickshire, will be looking at the links between milk prices and how they affect each part of the food supply chain for her project.

She will be working through prices using a data series that runs back over decades to see where changes occurred – and to try to understand what impact they had and what lessons could be learned.

Having grown up on a dairy farm herself, the subject is of keen interest to Grace  – and her work has already secured recognition from her lecturers and peers at the inaugural Food and Business Research Mini-Conference held at Harper Adams. Grace was awarded a prize for the best overall presentation.

She said: “When I came to look at dissertation topics, I saw this one – price transmission – come up. I contacted the tutor to discuss it, and having already got a background in dairy, I thought I would look at that.

“We will be working with two datasets, and ultimately the hope is to try to see the details of any relationship between the prices paid to producers and by consumers and their impact.

“I think that producer prices are an issue – the way that price changes affect milk producers shows that – and these changes have an influence on people’s livelihoods.

“It is really important for us to have a dairy industry in this country – it supports a lot of people’s careers, which is so important. So many people graduate from universities like Harper Adams and will go on to work in the sector – and that relies on dairy producers being there.

“If they can’t keep going, that is not a good thing!”

Grace’s research forms part of her final year of study at Harper Adams – which she set her heart upon after visiting her sister, who also studied at the University.

She said: “When I came to visit her, I got a feel for the campus and setting – it was only one of two unis I actually put down on my UCAS form!

“The rural setting, having grown up on a farm, was familiar to me.

“I can’t fault it – the course is specialised and offers you so much variation. It has been really interesting and very varied – and the course offers you a lot of different modules to choose from, which I like!”

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Tate & Lyle, global provider of food and beverage ingredients and solutions, commissioned new research amongst consumers in the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and Sweden, to investigate attitudes towards dairy consumption.

The survey found that the frequency in which young consumers eat dairy products is high, with 71% eating cheese, 81% drinking milk and 69% eating yoghurt at least once a week.

Furthermore, 77% of 18-35-year-olds said they are happy to consider eating more dairy products if they could try products with less fat, sugar, and allergens.

Beth Nieman Hacker, market research director at Tate & Lyle, said: “Our research has uncovered some interesting emerging trends when it comes to how and why consumers are purchasing dairy.

“It is so important to understand how behaviours, values and appetites are changing and the drivers behind these shifts, so food and drink brands can launch products that meet the needs of consumers today.”

The research uncovered opportunities for food and drink manufacturers to do more to encourage young people to eat dairy products.

Health is a key priority for the younger generation, with 1 in 4 (39%) 18-35-year-olds stating they felt dairy products contained too much fat and 34% claiming that dairy products contain too much sugar.

Younger consumers are much more likely to eat dairy alternatives – with 35% eating non-dairy cheese, 33% eating non-dairy ice cream and 46% non-dairy milk, at least once a week.

A flexitarian diet seems to be on the rise amongst consumers of all ages, who switch between dairy and dairy alternatives depending on the meal type. 39% said they eat dairy cheese at dinner, compared to 26% who chose a dairy alternative. 32% preferred dairy yoghurt at breakfast, while 26% liked a dairy alternative yoghurt as a mid-morning snack.

Consumers are also looking to make more sustainable choices – with a fifth (18%) of older consumers saying products with environmental certifications would be a big factor in them increasing their dairy intake, while younger consumers were looking for more environmentally friendly packaging (19%) and a longer shelf life (20%).

Delphine Forejt, dairy category development manager at Tate & Lyle, said: “Our research found that nearly three quarters of 18-35-year-olds who are eating less of dairy are happy to consider eating more dairy products if they could try products with less fat and sugars. Whilst dairy products have long been associated with goodness, in today’s world, the dairy industry must adapt to modern consumer tastes, convenience and healthier lifestyles. At Tate & Lyle we are committed to working with customers to help them overcome these challenges and deliver tasty products that consumers love.”

For more information on how Tate & Lyle collaborates with customers working with dairy, visit: www.tateandlyle.com/our-expertise/dairy

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“Awarding the Milk-scientific Innovation Price 2021 Dr Sarah Egert from the dairy industry association is to honour her excellent scientific achievements. The winner has the potential to deliver important impetus and new insights in the important and complex area of nutritional sciences for the milk industry in the future,” says Hans Holtorf, deputy chairman of the Dairy Industry Association.

The €10,000 MIV prize is awarded annually to personalities, who are essentially involved in milk-specific research and science. This can be anything from natural sciences to law and economics.

Egert has been conducting the professorship for nutritional physiology at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn since the middle of this year. The focus of the research is the cardiometabolic effects of fatty acids and nutritional patterns, the bioavailability and efficacy of secondary plant substances and postprandial metabolism.

The methodological focus is on the implementation of controlled human nutritional studies. Questions of diet are of important importance in milk research. It is the role of milk and its components for a balanced diet that is the focus and gives evidence-based foundations for the public discourse.

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Their research, in particular, found two main strategies that could be used at the beginning of the milk supply chain – on the farm and in the processing plant — to prevent psychrotolerant (cold-growing,) spore-forming bacteria from contaminating and prematurely spoiling milk:

1. Premium payments such as bonuses (or penalties) based on lower (or higher) spoiling bacteria counts in raw milk;
2. Investing in spore-reduction technologies at the processing level.

Their study, concluding that enacting both strategies could improve some milk shelf life anywhere between a half-day to 13 days, was published on 8 July in one of the Frontiers journals, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.

“In general, I would say that this is not a one-prescription-for-all problem,” said Forough Enayaty Ahangar, a newly arrived lecturer in supply chain optimisation at the Olin Business School. “The results of our optimisation models demonstrate that optimal combination of interventions is highly dependent on characteristics of each individual dairy processor. These characteristics include the volume of processed milk and the quality of supplied raw milk. Therefore, our optimisation models provide novel decision tools from which individual processors can benefit and determine the best strategy for their facility.”

At the intersection of food science, population and veterinary medicine, and supply chain sit bottles of milk, creating a worldwide problem the longer they sit. So Enayaty Ahangar teamed with researchers at her previous institution — Sarah Murphy, Nicole Martin, Martin Wiedmann and senior author Renata Ivanek at Cornell University — to test the strategies via modeling.

This study targeted the problem of premature spoilage of milk caused by bacteria — Bacillus sp. and Paenibacillus sp. ­— which enter raw milk on farms and whose hardy spores can survive pasteurisation. (There is an alternative pasteurisation, but it costs more and consumers complain about the milk taste after undergoing the higher temperatures utilised.)

Comparing their findings with Agriculture Department data from 24 states and based on a cow producing 64 pounds or 15 half-gallons of milk per day, the team ran 24 case studies — or generated instances, as they called them — looking at processor size, the number of milk producers in the supply chain and the planning horizon, meaning five and 10 years down the road.

Premium payments, or production-level interventions: Farmers should be encouraged to implement fixes and improve processes from the get-go — starting with milk from the cow’s udders — if they are rewarded for consistent high-quality milk in terms of spore-forming spoilage bacteria contamination and penalized for low-quality milk.

Contracts similar to this bonus/penalty guideline already exist in US livestock commodities such as eggs and chicken, the authors noted. In this paper, the researchers propose a new, flexible bonus/penalty system based solely on raw milk’s initial spore counts at production.

Spore-reduction investment, or processing-level interventions: Milk-processing companies know that technologies such as microfiltration and bactofugation are costly to acquire, install and operate. But this research illustrated how using both of those approaches, including a third, double-bactofugation method, were the most effective ways long-term to eliminate spore-forming bacteria from milk.

Their models predicted, by using such processing-level interventions and investments, shelf lives for milk would increase across the board. That improved shelf life — defined as the first day when 5% of milk packages carry a specific bacterial count — ranged from 20-26 days (for small processing plants) to 28-31 days (medium) to an average of 34 days (large).

“There is increasing attention in the dairy industry to the importance of using low spore count raw milk to produce high-quality dairy products, yet there is no blueprint for industry decision-makers on how to achieve this,” Murphy said. “Importantly, our study contributes to the conversation regarding how the industry can invest in dairy farmers and technologies and provides tools that may have the potential to support industry decision-makers.

“Our focus was mostly on how the process can better allocate their budget to achieve longer shelf life for their processed milk,” Enayaty Ahangar said.

In short, the research showed that medium and large processors could enact interventions and improve their milk’s shelf life up to 13 and 12 days, respectively.

“Working with Cornell’s Veterinary School, one of the best in the US, was an amazing experience for me,” said Enayaty Ahangar, trained as an industrial engineer and a specialist in optimisation. “I got to work with epidemiologists, microbiologists, food scientists, people from business schools…. And because our novel optimisation models integrate methods and knowledge from multiple disciplines, I believe our paper has the potential to be a good starting point for many other research projects in the food industries.”

“The ultimate goal of our research is to support the development of sustainable milk production supply chain, where milk waste is reduced in a way that is cost-effective for all players in the continuum of food production and consumption, and is socially acceptable and environmentally sound,” Ivanek said. “The decision support tools like the mathematical models of milk spoilage developed through the multidisciplinary research effort in this study are an integral part of that journey.”

Added Wiedmann: “This project continues the development of digital tools for both dairy and other food supply chains, which will play an important role as decision support tools for industries as they continue to improve productivity and sustainability of nutritious foods.”

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Three research groups have investigated how this bitter taste can be prevented. For a long time, the calcium concentration was considered to be the trigger for the formation of so-called bitter peptides during fermentation. But it doesn’t seem to be that alone, the researchers concluded.

Rather, it is probably the interplay of calcium content and starter cultures. By selecting suitable mixtures of bacterial cultures for fermentation, it may be possible in the future to reduce the bitterness of the finished product or perhaps even avoid it entirely.

The project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) with a total of almost €450,000.

The so-called bitter peptides, which are responsible for the bitter aroma, are small protein fragments that are formed from larger proteins with the help of special enzymes, the peptidases.

“These fragments respond to our bitter sensors on the tongue. That’s why these foods are not spoiled, they just don’t taste so good to bitter-sensitive people,” explains professor Herbert Schmidt from the department of food microbiology and hygiene at the University of Hohenheim.

It is still unclear whether these peptidases come from the added lactic acid bacteria or come from the milk, if it is because they are produced by the cow and passed into the milk or because they get into the milk through contamination with other bacteria.

The question is, why are bitter peptides mainly found in products that have a high calcium content?

“The aim of our research project was to understand, how the bitter substances are released in the manufacturing process and which factors can reduce this,” professor Jörg Hinrichs from the dairy science and technology department says.

Fermented dairy products are created by the work of lactic acid bacteria. They are added to milk or milk concentrates as so-called starter cultures and convert the milk sugar into lactic acid and other substances.

Usually the manufacturers also add a small amount of rennet so that the milk coagulates better. The milk protein flocculates and can then be separated from the liquid part of the milk, the whey.

However, the lactic acid bacteria also need the protein in milk for their own nutrition. They break down larger proteins into smaller pieces so that they can be taken up into the cell. There the peptides are broken down even further and can then be used by the cells for their own protein metabolism. But if too many of these fragments remain in the dairy product, they can cause a bitter taste.

The formation of these bitter peptides during the fermentation process is a complex interaction between various milk components and the genes or enzymes of the bacteria. In order to better analyze these interactions, the scientists worked with various, in some cases newly developed, model systems.

A newly developed concentration and filtration process makes it possible, for example, to change and adjust the composition of the milk concentrate in a targeted manner before fermentation.

“In contrast to the classic manufacturing process, we first draw off the whey and then ferment the milk concentrate,” explains Hinrichs. “This method allows us to variably control the fat, calcium and protein content and thus simulate different compositions.”

Using this cream cheese model, the scientists analysed the effects of different fermentation conditions on the formation of bitter peptides, such as temperature and pH value as well as different bacterial cultures.

A number of lactic acid bacteria are used to make cream cheese products, most commonly Lactococcus lactis.

“The starter cultures used for fermentation are almost as diverse as the dairy products on the market,” says Schmidt.

In addition, as with almost all bacteria, there are different lineages with different properties, the so-called strains. “In one culture we found a mixture of 30 to 40 different strains,” Schmidt adds. “That doesn’t make the analysis and the targeted control of the fermentation process any easier.”

The scientists have nevertheless succeeded in identifying some of the genes, which play an important role in the formation and breakdown of the bitter peptides.

The focus of interest is the gene that is responsible for the formation of the peptidase. It was suggested that the activity of this peptidase gene could be regulated by calcium. New methods make it possible to record the activity of individual genes.

“It turned out that calcium has no influence on the activity of this gene. However, we know that the pH value has to drop below five within 24 hours during fermentation in order to reduce gene activity,” summarises Schmidt. “Of course, the easiest way would be, if we could breed strains, which don’t have this gene. Unfortunately, bacterial strains, which do not have the peptidase gene, cannot survive on their own. They need the other strains that produce the vital peptides for them.”

“We found a total of nine different regulation points for the enzyme activity. And depending on the bacterial strain, calcium can have a different effect. Sometimes it promotes enzyme activity and in another strain it reduces it,” notes professor Lutz Fischer from the department of biotechnology and enzyme science.

“In more recent work, however, there is a clear trend. The milk’s own enzymes from the cow, such as cathepsin and plasmin, are probably not the cause, Rather, it seems to be solely responsible for the added bacterial cultures, which are necessary for the fermentation of milk or milk concentrates,” he adds.

The challenge now is to put the different bacterial cultures together in such a way, so the bacteria can still perform their desired task, but, on the other hand, as few or none of the bitter peptides are contained in the finished product.

This is why the scientists’ recommendation to the manufacturers of starter cultures is to use enzymatic tests in addition to traditional culture and molecular biological techniques. According to the current state of knowledge, the formation of bitter peptides is mainly decided at the enzyme level.

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To assess the purchasing habits of households that purchase food for children versus those that do not, researchers from Purdue University and Oklahoma State University collected data through an online survey tool, Qualtrics. Respondents, required to be 18 years of age or older, were asked a variety of questions to collect demographic information and dairy product purchasing behaviour from US residents. Kantar, an online panel database, was used to obtain participants through their opt-in panel database. “The sample was targeted to be representative of the US population in terms of sex, age, income, education, and geographical region of residence as defined by the US Census Bureau (2016),” said author Mario Ortez, PhD student at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, USA.

The survey received a total of 1,440 responses to be assessed. Per the results, 511 respondents indicated they frequently purchased food specifically for children, whereas 929 indicated they did not. Of the 1,440 respondents, 521 indicated that they had at least one child in the household, and 912 indicated they did not have children in their household. The study found that households that frequently purchased food for children generally purchased larger quantities of fluid milk, along with their chosen fluid milk having a higher fat content. Households with children also bought yogurt more frequently than other households.

A new study published in JDS Communications found that households with children reported purchasing larger quantities and higher-fat dairy products compared to households without children. Image courtesy of JDS Communications

Other findings from the survey indicated that cheese and milk are most often purchased for part of a meal, and yogurt is bought most frequently as a snack. The survey also found that households largely reported reviewing product attributes of price, expiration date, and nutritional information (in that order) on egg, milk, and meat labels.

“This study demonstrates the continued belief among American consumers that dairy products are an important part of a healthy diet fed to children. The popularity of whole milk, cheese, and yogurt within these households suggests that children enjoy the taste of dairy products and are happy to have them served during regular meals and at snack time,” said Matthew Lucy, PhD, editor-in-chief of JDS Communications, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA. These findings can influence product marketing efforts and stakeholder decisions in the dairy industry.

“Future studies can build on this work by evaluating whether there is a spillover effect from purchasing specifically for children and the general dairy and protein product purchasing habits of those households,” said Dr Courtney Bir, PhD, coauthor of the study and assistant professor, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA.

Policy makers and companies can use this information to help inform product labeling and better target necessary segments to increase product awareness and better the dairy industry as a whole.

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The authors of this study, from the Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro, Fluminese Federal University, Federal Institute of Paraná, and Natural Resources Institute Finland, assessed the addition of demerara sugar, brown sugar, fructose, coconut sugar, and honey to sheep milk kefir. One hundred consumers rated the appearance, aroma, taste, texture, and overall impression, and expressed whether they were satisfied, active, loving, calm, comfortable, energetic, happy, healthy, refreshing, disgusted, worried, or upset.

Sheep produce 10.6 million tons of milk per year, or 1.3% of the world’s milk production. “The results of the present study are relevant for the sheep milk dairy industry, as they indicate that emotional perceptions and sensory acceptance of kefir sweetened with different agents are directly correlated,” said lead author Adriano G Cruz, PhD, Food Department, Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “The evaluation of emotions evoked by products can be an important tool to obtain additional information that can be used for product optimization and market strategies by the sheep milk industry.”

Sensory acceptance (appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, and overall liking) of experimental kefir fermented milk formulations. Values are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 100 consumers). a–c The same lowercase letters indicate lack of statistical difference (P > 0.05) for the same sensory attribute. SUC = sucrose, DEM = raw demerara sugar, BSG = brown sugar, FRU = fructose, COC = coconut sugar, HON = honey (Credit: Journal of Dairy Science).

The use of brown sugar decreased ratings for taste, texture, and overall impression, as well as the emotions “active,” “loving,” “energetic,” “healthy,” and “refreshing.” The use of coconut sugar decreased ratings for appearance, aroma, and taste, in addition to the feelings “refreshing” and “upset.” The use of honey improved ratings for appearance and aroma but reduced the ratings for the emotions “active,” “loving,” “energetic,” and “healthy.” Kefir samples with higher sensory acceptance scores were associated with higher levels of the feelings “satisfied,” “active,” “comfortable,” “energetic,” “healthy,” and “refreshing.”

The results of the study suggest that demerara sugar or fructose should be used as a substitute for sucrose in the production of sheep milk kefir to increase consumption.

Professor Cruz added: “These findings are interesting, as they give useful information to sheep milk processors to establish different marketing strategies for each group of samples, serving as initial guidelines.”

This research illustrates that the study of emotions can be used to obtain data related to products’ sensory acceptance.

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The investment is a tangible illustration of increasing optimism for a more prosperous US dairy future in a fast-growing region that includes Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, the US DEC notes.

Funding comes from US dairy farmers through the national dairy checkoff programme.

“The US Center for Dairy Excellence creates an education hub and meeting place where relationships can be developed and strengthened, where we can share market intelligence and insights, spark ideation, lead research, and share the story of US dairy’s sustainable production,” says secretary Tom Vilsack, USDEC president and CEO. “It represents a long-term commitment by the US dairy industry to the region and exports, and recognition of the importance of Southeast Asia as an innovation hub.”

A virtual launch celebration was held, attended by industry, academia and government guests from across Southeast Asia. The virtual 360-degree tour highlighted the centre’s key features, which includes a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen, ISO standard-based sensory evaluation lab, meeting and training rooms and the latest video broadcasting capabilities showcasing how the US centre can further support customers and partners in Southeast Asia.

USDEC has been active in developing the market since 1998. Demand for US dairy exports climbed by $250 million (€208.3m) from 2017 to 2019 in the region, up to $934 million (€778.7m), for cheeses and dairy ingredients such as milk powders, dairy protein, lactose and permeate, the US DEC says.

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The CDIC will feed dairy innovation efforts for the state with collaborations between California dairy producers, processors, and universities.

“The ‘centre’ is not a physical building or organisation, but rather a co-operative effort to leverage the tremendous brain trust of our California colleges and universities as well as the California dairy industry as a whole to support our mutual goals,” John Talbot, CEO of the CMAB says.

The CMAB is currently recruiting for a director to run the new centre. The role will also include coordinating research projects, and being a point of contact for researchers, educators, and business development representatives, as well as for processors interested in innovation efforts. This post will serve as an advocate for the dairy community by promoting innovation, product development, and workforce support; in addition to implementing competitive advantages for the dairy industry, according to CMAB.

California is the US’s top milk-producing state and is the second-largest producer of cheese and yogurt in the country.

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The Strength in Places project will produce a detailed application aimed at establishing South-West Scotland and Cumbria as the leading region for advanced, sustainable and high-value dairy processing.

Richard Dewhurst, head of Dairy Research Centre in SRUC’s South and West Faculty, will lead a consortium of research partners, regional and multi-national dairy-processing companies and seven enabling technology companies, to develop the Digital Dairy Value-Chain for South-West Scotland and Cumbria project.

The government funding, from the UKRI’s flagship £236m Strength in Places Fund (SIPF), will help create a more efficient and resilient dairy industry.

By using digital twinning, combining digital communications and advanced manufacturing, it will enable the tracing of milk, cheese and other products and provide assurance to retailers, wholesalers and consumers.

Professor Wayne Powell, principal and chief executive of SRUC, said: “We are delighted to join forces with the University of Strathclyde, the University of the West of Scotland and other consortium partners, to bring about a step change in research and innovation in dairy production and processing.

“In the long term, this project will bring much-needed jobs and economic activity to this rural area.”

Strength in Places Fund panel chair, Dame Kate Barker, said: “We are pleased to recommend this bid for early-stage funding. It provides evidence of excellent research that meets business need and great potential for collaboration, by bringing together a consortium to contribute to increased growth and productivity in areas of local economic activity.” 

The consortium comprises three research excellent partners (SRUC; University of Strathclyde; University of the West of Scotland); Dumfries & Galloway Council; regional and multi-national dairy-processing companies (Arla, First Milk, Lactalis Mclelland, Dale Farm); Newton Rigg College and seven enabling technology companies (Afimilk, CENSIS, Lely, Novosound, Seric, BT, Boston Networks).

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“Sustainable product innovation is at the heart of SIG’s commitment to go Way Beyond Good for society and the environment,” said Klaus Andresen, senior vice president, Global Technology at SIG.

“We already offer customers some of the most sustainable aseptic packaging solutions on the market. But we want to go further and that’s why we’re partnering with Nestlé and others to drive progress towards the sustainable packaging materials of the future.”

Together, the corporate partners have committed to provide 5 million Swiss francs over 10 years. The funding will support a new chair for sustainable materials research within EPFL’s Institute of Materials.

The chair, to be appointed as a tenure-track assistant professor, will be responsible for developing and implementing a new research programme on sustainable materials at EPFL, one of Europe’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan science and technology institutions.

Research areas of interest will address critical questions such as the overall environmental impact of materials, the exploration of bio-based, bio-degradable and recyclable materials, including high-performance paper-based barrier materials, that could help to address environmental concerns about plastic packaging.

Stefan Palzer, Nestlé’s chief technology officer, said: “Tackling plastic pollution is a top priority for Nestlé. We continue our efforts to pilot novel approaches for re-use packaging, while also evaluating new recycling technologies and sustainable packaging materials. The development of high performing, environmentally friendly materials requires a fundamental understanding of material structures and properties, which is why we are collaborating with our innovation partners to invest in sustainable material research at EPFL.”

Beverage cartons are fully recyclable and have a much lower environmental footprint than many alternatives for long-life food and beverages such as milk, juice or soups. They are made mainly from renewable paperboard, but small amounts of polymers and aluminium foil are usually needed as barrier layers to contain and protect liquid food products, and for caps and closures.

SIG is already offering an aluminium-free aseptic packaging for dairy products, known as combibloc EcoPlus, and its Signature Pack solution uses a mass balance approach to link the polymers used in the carton to 100% renewable, forest-based feedstock. The company is now working to create an aseptic pack made out of 100% renewable materials – without mass balancing or aluminium – that can be used for a range of products, including juices that are more sensitive to light and oxygen.

Supporting research into more sustainable, high-performance barrier materials, SIG says, will help the company drive progress towards this goal as it works in partnership with customers to bring food products to consumers around the world in a safe, sustainable and affordable way.

To find out more about SIG’s ‘Way Beyond Good’ commitment, visit: www.sig.biz/en/responsibility/way-beyond-good.

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The powders offer a clean label, are naturally free from contaminants, do not contain engineered nanomaterials and are made with ingredients of conventional (non-GM) origin. They are designed for easy addition to dry-blending manufacturing processes and support production of products with a longer shelf life and greater stability. The powders are safe, natural and support optimal developmental outcomes in infants, the company says.

“Research suggests that the intake of both DHA and ARA during infancy has positive effects on brain growth, cognitive and visual development, and immune function. Parents, including those who cannot, or choose not to breastfeed, should have access to safe and reliable infant nutrition products that contain these critical nutrients,” says Ethan Leonard, vice president for speciality early life nutrition at DSM Nutritional Products. “We carefully formulated the powders to ensure compliance with evolving regulations worldwide and support manufacturers in creating high-quality infant formula products with DHA and ARA that help them to shape healthy futures for children everywhere.”

DHA and ARA are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) that play a crucial role in infant health and development. Breast milk is the gold standard for infant nutrition and naturally contains both DHA and ARA, typically with ARA levels higher than those of DHA. Breast milk is used as a reference for the formulation of substitutes, which are designed to mimic the composition and functionality of breast milk as closely as possible.

Recent publications by infant nutrition experts have recommended the addition of DHA and ARA to infant and follow-on formula during the first year of life — a critical window of development. DHA supports brain and cognitive development, mental adaptability and problem solving, and information processing, while ARA may play a role in supporting the development of a healthy immune system, bone formation, blood flow and blood vessel function.

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The reference materials are the result of several years of cooperation between IDF, ICAR and EC JRC, the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. The materials were developed in response to an identified need to have available a common, robust, and internationally accepted anchor point to implement and safeguard equivalent somatic cell counting worldwide.

Somatic cell counting is a key indicator for udder health in several lactating animals, including dairy cows. Accurate counting therefore has relevance in food quality regulations, milk payment testing, farm management and breeding programmes. The counting of somatic cells relies on the performance of high capacity routine somatic cell counters. However, prior to the release of the new reference materials, no robust common reference was available.

Caroline Emond, director general of IDF (pictured) says, “Current practice requires milk laboratories in different geographies to link to their own individual reference materials, creating potential issues with comparability and thus equivalence. Thanks to the combined expertise of IDF, ICAR and the JRC, we are a step closer to overcoming these issues. This work could not have been achieved without the expertise and efforts of the IDF/ICAR network and the reference materials unit within JRC’s Directorate F (health, consumers and reference materials), located in Geel, Belgium.”

The reference materials (ERM-BD001) are arranged as sets. Each set consists of two bottles with spray-dried cow milk, one with low and one with high somatic cell count, characterised by means of an interlaboratory comparison with 32 laboratories worldwide. The reference materials’ documentation includes instructions on the reconstitution and defines the intended use: calibration material for routine methods, and quality control material for both reference methods and routine methods. Moreover, the materials can be used to assign values to in-house materials.

In addition to the applications already mentioned, the material will be of specific interest to dairy herd improvement organisations, QA services, manufacturers and distributors of routine equipment for somatic cell counting, providers of secondary reference materials for somatic cell counting, organisers of proficiency testing, animal health organisations, universities and research institutes and accreditation bodies.

The reference materials can be acquired directly through EC JRC or its authorized reference material distributors. It should be noted that delivery may be delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak: ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/reference-materials/catalogue

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The MoU marks the starting signal for the realization of the ambitious vision of a European agriculture without chemical pesticides, which also can have an impact on the milk sector in the future.

The co-operation should specifically contribute to creating a sustainable agricultural and food system for all of Europe. To achieve this, the partners, together with other relevant actors, will develop a joint research agenda that is aligned with the European Green Deal. The aim of this is to implement an environmentally friendly, sustainable, fair and competitive agricultural food sector across the entire value chain.

The agreement includes, among other things, an intensified dialogue between researchers and stakeholders across the continent, as well as the implementation of multilateral research and innovation projects and the integration of new systemic and multidisciplinary approaches.

“With the Memorandum of Understanding we are strengthening European-wide co-operation, accelerating the process of finding solutions, contributing our knowledge and at the same time benefiting from an international exchange of knowledge that is of central importance, especially in research,” said Eva Reinhard, head of Agroscope.

“Co-operation at the international level enables valuable synergies and new shared insights that can be used across borders. This brings us a significant step closer to the common goal of more sustainable agriculture.”

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Available through customer partnerships in the US and in Europe, this product is already being used in several neonatal intensive care units. Now a new Position Paper by the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) has recommended the probiotic strains included in the blend by Chr. Hansen.

The working group recommends that “if all safety conditions are met, the panel conditionally recommends using the combination of Bifidobacterium infantis, Bb-02 (DSM 33361), Bifidobacterium, BB-12 and Streptococcus thermophilus, TH-4 at a dose of 3.0 to 3.5 x 108 CFU (of each strain) as it might reduce NEC stage 2 or 3”.

The recommendation was ​published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition on 11 February 2020.

​“With this new position statement, our three-strain probiotic blend has received a strong external validation by a highly recognized pediatric society. We are proud to deliver a probiotic solution with strong evidence on reducing one of the most serious conditions among preterm infants and we hope that with this external validation, the probiotic solution may aid an even greater number of preterm infants across the globe,” said Christian Barker, EVP for Health & Nutrition at Chr. Hansen.

“We could not have asked for a finer endorsement of our product, which represents Chr. Hansen’s strongholds in terms of innovation, next level quality and safety and not least our overall purpose. Using our science and technology to make a positive difference in the world is what we are in business for, and this solution is a great example of that.”

About 1-2% of all infants are born very preterm or extremely preterm – i.e. two months or earlier than their due date – which is some 2.4 million babies globally every year. NEC affects approximately 5% of this group and results in a mortality rate of up to 30%.

​Chr. Hansen’s multi-strain probiotic has been tested in two high quality clinical trials for its efficacy and safety. It has shown to help support the intestinal tract for healthy immune and digestive function, reducing the risk of Necrotizing enterocolitis by 50%.

Due to the high vulnerability of infection in preterm infants, Chr. Hansen has implemented the strictest of production processes, adding many more requirements on top of what is stipulated as standard:

• All raw materials are sourced from approved suppliers based on a regulatory evaluation to be allowed in infant formula products.
• An extensive testing regimen is applied per batch for the only excipient in the product, maltodextrin, to verify microbiological quality.
• All rooms where open infant products are handled comply with ISO 14644-1-Class-7 and have an overpressure compared to the surroundings.
• Single use, sealed packages minimizes contamination risk in use.

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The following key note speakers have been announced:

• Ylva Ardö, Emeritus Professor, Copenhagen University, Department of Food Science: “Chemical characterisation of cheese varieties, a review”
• Paul Cotter, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork:“Multomics to unravel microbe-flavour relationships in cheese”
• Valérie Gagnaire, UMR Science & Technologie du Lait et de l’Oeuf (STLO) Agrocampus Ouest, France: “Overview on new designer cheese – from specialised starters to personalised cheeses” 
• Eileen Gibney, University College Dublin, Institute of Food and Health, Ireland: “Dairy consumption and metabolic health: a focus on cheese”
• John A Lucey, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA: “Using casein chemistry and rheological methods to both design and monitor cheese performance”

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