Arla Foods Ingredients launches new whey solution for RTD products

09-Nov-2016 - Last updated on 09-Nov-2016 at 11:52 GMT

Arla Food Ingredients has launched a new ingredient solution, Nutrilac WheyHi, for high-protein RTD beverages. Pic: ©Arla Food Ingredients

Arla Food Ingredients says that, with sales of RTD beverages growing, dairy processors and soft drinks manufacturers can exploit the potential of high-protein RTD beverages with its new ingredient solution, Nutrilac WheyHi.

Arla Food Ingredients notes that key segments in RTD include sports nutrition drinks, iced tea and coffee and fruit smoothies – the market for sports and energy drinks alone was worth more than $50bn in 2014.

Sales of RTD tea and coffee, meanwhile, are expected to reach $125bn by 2017, representing an annual growth rate of 10.9% between 2012 and 2017, according to MarketsandMarkets research.

Reduced risk of fouling

In many countries, the RTD market is dominated by long shelf life drinks made using UHT processes.

Previously, it was difficult for manufacturers to add whey protein to such products without the risk of fouling, something that Arla Food ingredients says is significantly reduced by WheyHi.

With the new product, companies can create long-life sports nutrition drinks, tea and coffee beverages, and smoothies in which 40% of the protein comes from whey.

WheyHi is suitable for high temperature applications that use both direct and indirect UHT treatment, without compromising on processing capacity.

In addition, it can be used to create several different types of products, which the company says simplifies inventory.