R&D ¦ IDM
Zink: This joint project is unusual in several respects. It is an international
community of companies from France, Ireland, Germany
and the USA. These companies focus on very different raw materials.
In addition, the university institutions complement each other
in their expertise. The project will deliver results in late 2022/early
2023 and is funded with €1.4 million, 50% of which will be contributed
equally by the industrial partners.
IDM: Will the results be made public in the end? There’s State
funds in it after all …
Zoon: Scientific and precompetitive results will be disseminated,
which is a pre-requisite of the Dutch Topsector Agri & Food subsidy
authority for granting the subsidy, and is as well in the interest
of the participating industrial partners.
IDM: What microorganisms are in the focus for fermenting plantbased
material?
Zoon: Natural, food-grad micro-organisms, such as lactic acid
bacteria and yeasts that are known to be able to ferment milk and/
or plant materials, will be used. By carefully selecting the cultures
and controlling the fermentation process, the aim is to remove as
much as possible unwanted components, while limiting the production
of other (unwanted) metabolites.
Zink: We work with different microorganisms depending on the
raw material that is the focus of the research partners. The target
is to use quite normal starter cultures, such as those used for milk
and plant-based raw materials. Our research is currently working
out which organisms are best suited for a specific task.
IDM: Will normal dairies be able to run that fermentation processes
or will it be for specially equipped plants and manufacturers
of plant-based foods will have to buy all this as ingredients?
Zoon: Dairies should be able to run the fermentation processes
to remove these investigated and defined unwanted components.
Fermentation is a well-known activity for dairy companies that
produce fermented products, such as cheese, yoghurt, butter milk,
etc. Removal of unwanted components from the plant protein ingredients
could probably mean an additional operation unit in the
production line of such dairies: a pre-treatment step to remove
the unwanted components. Also, in-situ fermentation might be an
option in fermented products: removal of unwanted components
combined with the “regular fermentation” in one unit operation,
e.g. removal of hexanal and the “regular fermentation” of e.g.
lactose in yoghurt type products. In such cases we can search for
strains that are capable to perform both “jobs” (removal of unwanted
components as well as performing the regular fermentation).
The alternative is a mixture of strain(s) that can remove
unwanted components and strain(s) that execute the “regular fermentation”.
Zink: We might come to combined processes with fermentation
and filtration steps. Multiple fermentation with different cultures
could also lead to the desired removal of interfering compounds.
We are not only concerned with off-flavours, but also with other
substances that we define as undesirable for nutrition.
January/February 2022 ¦ international-dairy.com · 27
(left) Nel Zoon PhD, CSO at NIZO is
coordinator for developing improved
plant-based milk alternatives
(right) Dr. Ralf Zink, Director,
Head of Research & Technology,
DMK: The end result may be
combined processes with filtration
and fermentation steps
IDM: Who had the idea for this joint project? How came the partners
involved together?
Zoon: NIZO initiated this joint project. In recent years we have
seen growing interest from governments, industries, and consumers
in plant-based food options, leading to a (partial) transition
from animal- to plant-based proteins. However, the increased use
of plant proteins comes with several challenges as plant-protein
ingredients often contain compounds that can cause unpleasant
flavours, textural issues or have antinutritional effects in end products.
An example of a flavour issue is the presence of hexanal from
legume-based proteins, giving a noticeable “beany” flavour. Dr.
Herwig Bachmann, principal scientist and Expertise Group Leader
in Fermentation at NIZO, proposed to investigate whether unwanted
components could be removed by fermentation.
The idea is analogous to a concept called bioremediation where
microbes are being used to remove unwanted molecules from the
environment and on our expertise to remove aldehydes in soybased
yoghurt alternatives by tailor-made fermentation.
We discussed the idea with industrial parties (e.g. the german
dairy company DMK) and research groups with additional expertise
and proposed to set-up a consortium and request for a subsidy
in the Netherlands. This effort resulted in the NIZO-coordinated
consortium project in which NIZO, 3 other knowledge organisations
and 6 food companies (e.g. the german dairy company DMK)
collaborate. This project received a grant from the Dutch Topsector
Agri & Food and as well financial and in-kind contribution from the
industrial partners. Within this Topsector companies, knowledge
institutes and government work together on innovations for safe
and healthy food for 9 billion people in a resilient world.
/international-dairy.com
