Innovative natural color honored with prestigious industry award

A leading panel of industry experts selected Chr. Hansen’s natural red color ‘Red Strawberry Fragaria 100 WS’ over competitor ingredients in the FI Excellence Awards “Dairy innovation of the year” category. The highly concentrated, water soluble, liquid carmine color is developed specifically for fermented milk products and fruit preparations.

Régis Roubille, Global Technical Industry Manager, Dairy and Fruit Preparations, Chr. Hansen proudly accepted the award at the FI Excellence Awards 2011 ceremony in Paris, France yesterday, Nov. 29.

“Obviously I’m honored to be receiving this prestigious recognition of innovation excellence on behalf of Chr. Hansen at an important industry event like this,” commented Régis Roubille. “We launched this natural color in June this year and we have received very positive feedback from customers since the release, confirming that ‘Red Strawberry Fragaria’ fills a need in the dairy and fruit preparations industry. Combined, the positive customer receipt and this accolade really encourage us to keep on supporting our customers with advanced product offerings which meet the needs in the international food industry.”

Brighter red at lower cost
The key benefits of ‘Red Strawberry Fragaria’ are an attractive pink-red shade, excellent stability through shelf-life, and superior process stability qualities that enable a decrease of the pigment concentration by 10 to 20% compared to standard carmine.

The color which contains 15% carminic acid gives the manufacturers the opportunity to make visually appealing colored yoghurt or fruit preparations while at the same time lowering color dosage and thereby improving cost-in-use. The solution which challenges standard carmine solutions provides enhanced color consistency due to its exceptional processing stability.

Chr. Hansen also won the “Dairy innovation of the year” at the last FI Excellence Award event in 2009. Back then for the cheese coagulant CHY-MAX^® M, a groundbreaking new chymosin for cheese making.

Visitors to Chr. Hansen’s stand at Food Ingredients Europe 2011 taking place in Paris, France on November 29 – December 1 (stand number 2D31 in hall 2) are invited hear more about ‘Red Strawberry Fragaria’ and other Chr. Hansen innovations.

Visit our FiE 2011 website