As dairy-free alternatives to yogurt (vegurts) gain popularity worldwide, competition continues to grow among producers striving to offer consumers tasty, healthy and sustainable products. With the recent launch of the VEGA™ Culture Kit designed for optimal results across the full scope of plant bases, Chr. Hansen aims to enhance its support of plant-based innovation.
The VEGA™ Culture Kit comprises of customisable starter cultures, probiotics and bioprotective strains. With its comprehensive kit of solutions, VEGA™ delivers simplicity with robust performance while offering producers the flexibility to create customised and differentiated features for their products in terms of taste, texture, health and sustainability.
Dr. Ross Crittenden, Chr. Hansen’s Senior Director for Commercial Development said, “We are particularly excited about this launch because it gives us the opportunity to apply our 145-year legacy of work within the dairy industry to this highly innovative and rapidly growing segment of the market. We aim to leverage our deep expertise in food fermentation and history of close collaboration with producers to help the industry elevate the art of fermented plant-based craftsmanship.”
Dr Ross added that Chr. Hansen’s track record of innovating, collaborating, and troubleshooting within the yogurt and fermented milk space has been instrumental in the design of the VEGA™ Culture Kit to fit the specific needs of the vegurt category.
He explained that as the composition of plant bases is more varied than traditional dairy products, it is particularly important to utilise cultures expertly selected to meet the performance demands of dairy-free applications. The VEGA™ Culture Kit is simple to use and yet versatile to create differentiated products to satisfy varied consumer preferences.
In summary, the VEGA™ Culture Kit offers producers the following benefits:
- Enhanced taste and texture: VEGA™ offers an exciting new innovation; a choice of starter cultures that can differentially drive flavor and texture in plant-based yogurts. This allows producers to optimise for specific product characteristics by selecting the cultures that yield the results they are after.
- Probiotic support: VEGA™ nu-trish® blends of cultures enable consumers to enjoy the benefits of the world’s most-researched probiotics, including Chr. Hansen’s Bifidobacterium, BB-12® and Lactobacillus rhamnosus, LGG®. These cultures have been designed specifically for use in plant bases to ensure convenient delivery of the correct serving and stability of probiotics, all while delivering robust performance and clean flavor.
- Boosted sustainability credentials: VEGA™ FreshQ® culture solution supports a longer shelf life with superior freshness and fewer quality issues through the action of fermentation.
VEGA™ customers also enjoy hands-on support from Chr. Hansen’s dedicated global team of plant-based fermentation experts and application laboratories, from ideation to post-launch troubleshooting. Chr. Hansen also invests in consumer and market research within the industry to ensure alignment between consumer needs and the features VEGA™ cultures bring to plant-based products.
From tailored innovation sessions to concept samples, collaborative research and application assistance, Chr.Hansen is present to offer support to its customers at every stage of product development, co-creating delicious vegurts with tastes and textures that can rival those of more traditional dairy offerings.
VEGA™ cultures are produced using ingredients that are dairy-free, contain no GMO ingredients and are free of any animal-derived substances. They are suitable for use in vegetarian, vegan, Kosher and Halal products.
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Chr Hansen Singapore Pte Ltd
