Individual lecithins improve the production and functionality of instant powders
Hamburg, December 2021 – Whether baby food, sport drinks or diet shakes, sauces or dressings, it’s not just the ingredients that determine whether a product will be popular with consumers, but also the ease of preparation. To be well accepted by consumers, instantized foods need to dissolve easily in water or milk, without clumping. This can be very simply and effectively achieved with sprayable lecithin. Sternchemie offers lecithin blends based on soy, rapeseed or sunflower lecithin. A toolbox system of customer-specific solutions makes it possible to keep up with the growing requirements in terms of workability, quality, functionality and legal requirements.
Instant products, especially milk and protein powders, are showing strong growth. In a market environment with high competitive and cost pressures, efficiency increases are a must. At the same time these products are often exported, and so need to meet varied regulatory requirements. For example, in China, the largest target market for milk powder, especially in the infant nutrition category, there is a GB standard that must be met. Failure to do so can result in penalties up to and including market exclusion. There are also sometimes substantial differences in the approval and marking of lecithin as a food ingredient. For example, in the US chemically modified (such as acetylated or hydroxylated) lecithins are permitted and used, whereas they are prohibited for foods in Europe. Here, enzymatically hydrolysed lecithins from the Sternchemie portfolio can be used instead.
Just keeping up with the legal requirements in the different markets takes a great amount of attention. On top of that there is the need for marketing and product development. Health & Nutrition is an example of a sustained megatrend that offers attractive market potential. Enriched instant products, such as for drinks or meal substitutes, offer added value here.
With lecithins from Sternchemie’s SternInstant and SternPhil series, manufacturers of instant products can focus on their core business and on developing high-revenue, added value products. Thanks to its toolbox system, Sternchemie is able to offer the right lecithin for each product, customer need and market requirement. Christine Schwarz, Technical Product Manager SternInstant, explains: “The most important criteria in the manufacture of instant powders are their wettability, sinking behaviour and easy stirring. Liquid lecithin is a proven way to get these properties. With SternInstant, we offer a sprayable, all-vegetable lecithin-oil mixture whose special composition gives it very low viscosity.” During instantizing, the lecithin forms a fine film around the individual powder particles, thus improving their wettability. The lecithin shows its effects when the power is mixed with liquids like water or milk. “It reduces the surface tension between the powder and the liquid to where the powder can distribute and dissolve evenly in the liquid. In this way fatty powders can dissolve easily even in cold liquids.”
SternInstant is suitable for milk powders of all kinds, whether whole milk, skim milk, coffee creamer or cocoa drink powder. It also improves the application properties of instant protein products like sports drinks and diet shakes. Enzymatically hydrolysed lecithin from the SternPhil series likewise optimises the properties of fat powders like powdered whole milk and cream. As an emulsifier, it brings lasting improvements in the wettability, sinking and distribution of very fatty particles.
In the instant category, Sternchemie works to provide tailor-made solutions for every customer. These are individually adapted to specific needs, be they regulatory or functional. “Our goal is to give the customer the best powder properties and high production efficiency. Naturally we also take into account individual wishes, like clean label, non-GMO, RSPO-certified and organic,” notes Torben Werner, Product Manager SternInstant. In the company’s own Stern- Technology Center, Sternchemie tests the lecithins in its toolbox with the customer’s powder products in order to identify the best lecithin for the specific application. Together with extensive advisory services, this ensures that the lecithin meets all functional, quality and regulatory requirements.
Press contacts:
teamhansen / Manfred Hansen
Mecklenburger Landstr. 28 / D-23570 Lübeck, Germany
We request courtesy copies of published articles. You can also e-mail us a PDF of the article or send us a link to the publication.
Sternchemie GmbH & Co. KG
An der Alster 81
20099 Hamburg
You are now leaving our website and will be directed to the site of our sister company Berg + Schmidt GmbH & Co. KG. Berg + Schmidt is also a Stern-Wywiol Group company and boasts more than 60 years of experience in the development, production and global distribution of functional lipids in the animal nutrition, oleochemistry and cosmetics segments. Their team will be happy to help.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 1 year | This cookies is set by GDPR Cookie Consent WordPress Plugin. The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category ''Analytics''. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 1 year | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category ''Necessary''. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 1 year | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site''s analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. |
_gat_gtag_UA_40315751_1 | 1 minute | Google cookie for controlling script and event handling control. |
_gid | 1 Tag | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form. |
mat_ep | 1 month | This cookie is set by the software matelso. It is used to collect data in connection with the tracking of telephone calls. |
mat_tel | 2 years | This cookie is set by the software matelso. It is used to enable the tracking of telephone calls. |
weird_get_top_level_domain | session | This cookie is set by the software matelso. It identifies users' the language and country settings. |