The announcement, which follows the opening of the firms new Regional Cultures Competency Centre in Singapore last October, underlines growing interest among western ingredient makers in the relatively untapped opportunities in Asia.
"Supported by our application specialists in our Culture Development Centre in Singapore, this new range of freeze-dried cultures is undoubtedly one of the quickest culture of the market," said Siew-Lii Bong, Danisco Cultures regional business director (Asia Pacific).
Dairy consumption in China is growing at an average rate of more than 20 per cent. Of the estimated 600,000 700,000 tons of yoghurt being produced industrially each year, much is sold in drinkable form rather than the more typical set yoghurts consumed in Europe.
The National Bureau of Statistics of China forecasts a ten-fold increase in Chinese dairy consumption between now and 2015.
Danisco says that with a clear one-hour gain in fermentation time compared to standard yoghurt cultures, this new generation of Yo-Mix cultures offers a significant improvement in fermentation performance. They remain stable during 18 months at 4C, which eliminates the use of freezers and reduces the storage volume significantly.
The company also says that the new Yo-Mix Real Quick freeze-dried cultures are easy to handle thanks to their DVI format. They should also enable food firms to face production peaks linked to seasonality, unforecast new orders or variations in manufacturing shifts and fermentation capacity limitations.
In addition, the ultra-fast acidification properties of these cultures will allow dairy processors to produce extra volumes of product or shorten the incubating time. The range also includes a patented strain that brings unique textural properties to fermented milks.
"This new culture Yo-Mix 863 is robust and, even in formulation with sugar, there is no change in the speed of fermentation," said Bong. "In our assessment, the gain in speed is at least 15 per cent, which gives additional throughput without investment."