Protein is hot on the market right now, with more and more products with a high protein claim being launched, according to Antonio Sánchez, Sales Manager EMEA at FrieslandCampina DMV. As consumers become more health conscious and products intended for sports people become increasingly mainstream, proteins, which are DMV’s core business, will further grow as the divisions main area for innovation.

Despite not exhibiting at the event themselves, DMV executives were present at the Paris event last month. Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst at SIAL, Sánchez discussed the company’s extensive portfolio of functional and nutritional dairy protein ingredients. They also offer ingredients for dairy, processed cheese and non-dairy creamers. For performance and lifestyle nutrition, powdered shakes, bars and RTD products are the main formats used to bring high protein concepts.

“Protein enrichment and fortified foods are significant categories that have been growing for some time and continue to do so. It is a concept and a trend that we cannot ignore,” he says. “We don’t expect it to slow down anytime soon.”

“It is important for us to be as SIAL this year. We are the first and biggest producer of caseinates in the world and we want to show to the market and to all our customers and consumers the news applications and trends that we can offer to them in terms of caseinate applications.”

Protein can be seen everywher, it’s in the supermarkets, for example, and it goes beyond mere protein enrichment. Obviously, there is a big focus on dairy, such as yogurt applications, in white dairy, RTD beverages, bakery and even in chocolate categories,” he continues. “We see all these applications in the market and we see this expanding further. That is the main point that we wanted to get across at SIAL.”

For Sánchez, the trend and growth in these areas are often linked to protein enrichment. “We also want to highlight that there is growth in the yogurt market. We can link protein enrichment to other claims that we see, such as clean label and natural claims,” he notes.

“Our consumers are telling us they want more clean label products, they want only natural ingredients, they don’t want additives and so on. Convenience is also a major trend. We live such fast-paced lives, and as a result, many of us just want to feed ourselves in a naturally healthy and nutritious way,” Sánchez explains. “When we link this to protein, we can have very interesting formats and ingredients.”

“When you take caseinates, for example, the caseinates have two main blocks. They have the functional block and the nutritional block. We can have a caseinate that has a perfect amino acid profile. We can also use caseinates as a texturizer or as an emulsifier,” he explains. “It’s a natural functional ingredient that we have used with added benefits. So our customers make requests for clean label, it can also be functional and give a good source of nutrition. With our caseinates, we can provide all of this, in just one product that comes from milk. So it’s a very complex ingredient in one natural component.”

According to Sánchez, there is still a lot more that can be done for various protein formats. “I think the formatting is a fascinating topic. On-the-go is an important factor in RTD beverages and yogurts, there are many different combinations, innovations and materials that we can offer,” he says. “But the combination of caseinates with new applications and formatting is going further and beyond,” Sánchez claims. “There are options to have this added to your morning breakfast or yogurt to help you go along with your day, for example.

At the moment, DMV are focusing all their efforts on the protein enrichment side and Sánchez believes that “the future is here.”