Ingredients brand NZMP creates chocolate-based probiotic series
NZMP, the ingredients brand of global dairy company Fonterra, has unveiled an extension to its portfolio including chocolates and snacks series, reports Neill Barston.
As the company revealed, probiotic strains have enhanced its business as its latest applications enabling notable sector innovation while pairing with existing offerings.
The business explained that its latest series, known as Bifidobacterium animalis subspecies lactis HN019 (BifidoB HN019) and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus HN001* (LactoB HN001), can be used within products including chocolate and snack bars are reportedly clinically proven to provide consumers with digestive health and immunity benefits including improving gut-barrier function and reducing risk of certain disease, infections and inflammation.
Isolated from microbial cultures used in manufacturing yogurt and cheese, these dairy-free strains have been developed to meet three criteria – to be safe, effective and stable.
NZMP’s probiotic strains are suitable for various applications including ready-to-mix powdered beverages, supplements, chocolates, coated protein or snack bars, yogurts, ice creams, cheeses, fresh juices or fermented milk drinks.
As the original discoverers of the HN001 and HN019 probiotics, Fonterra commercialised these strains in the ‘90s and continues to own the trademark, so it’s no surprise that the company has always invested in human clinical research.
Over the decades, the accumulation of clinical evidence from a range of trials has resulted in HN001 and HN019 super strains being very heavily researched in humans. The human clinical evidence from across generations and markets provides NZMP an advantage when approaching US customers that are often seeking suppliers which can offer clinically-backed benefits to consumers.
“NZMP’s Sports & Active Lifestyle unit has been expanding its portfolio to include speciality ingredients that are complementary to core protein offerings, including things like milk phospholipids for mental wellbeing, milk minerals for bone health or Lactoferrin for immunity,” says Victoria Lam, senior marketing manager sports & active lifestyle.
“Market trends tell us that consumers are increasingly seeking more health benefits from their food and with more than 90% of probiotic products making health claims in the US, it makes sense to add probiotics into food or beverage formats, which can be carriers for various health-boosting ingredients.”
Chris Ireland, US probiotics business manager, sports and active lifestyle, adds, “Fonterra is traditionally a dairy food company, which means we have complementary expertise in regard to how probiotics can be paired with other ingredients in our portfolio for food and beverage applications. In fact, we are one of the few probiotic suppliers with evidence of probiotic stability data for chocolates
