Friesland finding whey to infant nutrition

The Dutch dairy and ingredient group said it had modified its home-soil plant in Bedum so that it had the flexibility to meet growing demand for infant nutrition products in Europe and elsewhere.

The move is part of a broader Friesland strategy to more comprehensively service the functional food ingredients market with milk and whey ingredients central to this strategy.

"By increasing its production capacity in Bedum, Friesland Foods Domo is responding to the growing market for infant nutrition," said Friesland Foods Domo managing director, Roelof Joosten.

"This makes our production site in Bedum the whey demineralisation centre of Friesland Foods."

The new production capacity will involve the production of a specialised de-salted form of whey which is favourable to infants.

This is done by ion exchange at what Frielsland calls its "whey minerlaisation centre".

The end result is Deminal 90, the name of its infant-targeted ingredient that comes in powder and liquid form.

Many infant foods are salt-free because the kidneys of babies have not developed to the point where they can process large amounts of sodium.

"In the past few years, Friesland Foods Domo has made enormous strides in the development, technology and production of high-quality ingredients based on milk and whey," said Joosten.

"The production site in Bedum only makes this speciality for infant nutrition."

Double Dutch Royal Friesland Foods recently inked a deal with fellow Dutch dairy, Campina, that will see the two dairies combine operations in a bid to maximise returns from their milk supply.

The two companies expect to reduce outgoings by €175m by 2012, taking into account reorganisation costs that may see as many as 500 jobs being lost.

The dairy market is typically unpredictable, with prices fluctuating wildly and has come under European Union and World Trade Organization scrutiny to bring greater uniformity to supply via regulatory means.

For this reason, many dairies are finding the ingredients side of their business to be the most stable and profitable.

Friesland Foods Domo is part of the Royal Friesland Foods group that specialises in whey-based ingredients for the global infant nutrition and pharmaceutical industries.