Denomega Nutritional Oils and GAT Food Essentials teamed up last year to microencapsulate Denomega's omega-3 fish oils and make them suitable for food and beverage uses beyond fresh produce.
Their common product is called Denomega GAT 100.
Although microencapsulation is an effective method of protecting sensitive ingredients, the use of Tetra Pak's FlexDos system builds on this, and opens up an easier way of incorporating omega-3, which has been well-researched for its benefits for cardiovascular and cognitive health, into functional dairy and beverage products.
"In our effort to continuously simplify the use of our omega-3 oils, Tetra Pak's Flex Dos system is a logical extension," said Denomega's Espen Thomassen.
The system combines dosing of the ingredient and packaging technology.
Stefan Thueringer, business development and marketing manager at GAT explained to NutraIngredients.com that sensitive ingredients are injected into the base of the product through a stand-along unit place in front of the filing machine, which measures the product flow and can adjust the speed at which the ingredient is added.
"This process ensures the survival and stability of heat-sensitive functional ingredients so that they maintain their health benefits, and avoids the need to overdose expensive additives and ingredients," says Tetra Pak.
The addition of the ingredient takes place just before filling, using TetraPak's aseptic FlexDos bag-in-box system.
The system, which has only been available since 2005, has already been used by DSM Nutritional Products for an omega-3 enriched milk.
For now, Tetra Pak is co-packaging products using Denomega GAT 100, but Thueringer said that the technology is expected to become more standard across the industry.
Ultimately it is expected that Tetra Pak will sell the machinery to its clients.
According to Tetra Pak the system is particularly suitable for heat sensitive and functional ingredients like omega-3 – as well as lactose, vitamins, colours and aromas.
Indeed, Thueringer said that it could be used for "all of GAT's micro-encapsulated active ingredients".
It can be used for both chilled and ambient products.