In Europe alone 29 million tons of dairy products are lost or wasted every year according to a study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) from 2012. Worldwide this amounts to around 20% of all dairy products produced. A considerable portion is due to spoilage through contamination, flavor degradation and the general stability and texture of the product. And in the case of probiotic products, the loss of active cells.
In a price-driven, cost-focused market, where retailer purchasing power is increasingly stronger and dairy prices low, there is a constant need for dairies to reduce costs and optimize processes. With shelf life extension opportunities, dairies themselves can achieve great benefits in process and logistic optimization by allowing themselves to use a bit more time internally and thus enabling a reduction of changeovers, running larger production batches and improving picking, handling and shipping processes. Alternatively, the longer shelf life can be used to open up new geographical markets.
At Chr. Hansen several of our natural culture solutions have been developed to push the boundaries and help dairies overcome shelf-life limiting and spoilage factors. Needless to say, all of this has been achieved, of course, using natural solutions.
