PLANT BASED DAIRY ALTERNATIVES 2021
Planteneers unites
indulgence and health
Plant-based cheese alternatives with improved nutritional profile
According to Innova Market, “plant forward” is a
worldwide phenomenon and one of the Top Ten
Trends for this year. The rising popularity of plantbased
products, especially among flexitarians, will according
to industry experts lead to growing demand for new
formats, plant proteins and higher-end alternatives. One
example is cheese alternatives, a product category of high
interest to flexitarians. Cheese is often a part of the diet
that’s hard to give up. Planteneers doesn’t just focus on
taste and texture, but also on the nutritional profile.
With the all-in compounds in the fiildDairy range, Planteneers
offers a selection of plant-based alternatives to
cream cheese, pizza cheese, and hard cheese in slices and
blocks. Alternatives to cheese fillings, for example for plantbased
schnitzel and the like, are also no problem. In the development
of plant-based products Planteneers is careful to
keep ingredient lists short. For example, the latest highlights
include a plant-based alternative to shepherd’s cheese that
has no E-numbers. New for cultured products are special
alternatives to granular cream cheese (cottage
cheese). These are based on either almond
or oat protein, and so are soy-free.
Planteneers also addresses the freefrom
trend in its plant-based alternative
to quark. This clean
label system has no
E-numbers and can also be used to produce a plant-based
version of sour cream. The products are made using almond
drinks or almond paste, and thus are also free from soy.
Networked research around protein qualities
The market research results from Innova Market Insights show
the potential that plant-based cheese alternatives have. Consumers
like cheese very much, and it is an important product
category in the plant-based alternatives market. Dr. Dorotea
Pein, Director Product Management at Planteneers, comments,
“in terms of technology, plant-based products have
reached the point where they are very similar to their animal
equivalents. They have the flavour and texture people want,
brown well, and with their melting behaviour make any pizza
a delicious treat. However, their nutritional value has room for
improvement, since unlike with meat alternatives, plant protein
cannot be readily used in cheese technology.”
To change this, Planteneers continuously researches new
solutions in the company’s own Plant Based Competence
Center. With its sister company Hydrosol, Planteneers is also
a cooperation partner with the NewFoodSystems innovation
space supported by the German Ministry of Education. Other
members include the Fraunhofer Institute, the Max Rubner Institute
and various universities and research institutions. “As a
partner of this expertise network, we are in constant communication
with leading scientists in the field of plant protein,”
reports Dr. Pein. “We’re also increasing our own research
and development work. To this end we’re adding
a cheese area to our Plant Based Competence
Center, where we can research new technologies.
Simultaneously we’re adding to our
expert team. Our goal is to make
plant proteins more usable
for cheese alternatives,
ultimately in order
to improve their
nutritional
value.”
All-in compounds allow for the manufacuting of a wide range of plant-based cheese alternatives (photo: Planteneers)
28 · January/February 2021 ¦ international-dairy.com
/international-dairy.com
