IFF’s Choozit BC Cultures series is tapping into the lucrative Brazilian pizza market with a clean label solution to control cheese browning and, therefore, the pizza’s visual appeal.

“The formulation is designed to assist cheesemakers to create flexibility for their customers, enabling them to achieve a consistent quality pizza cheese in a wide range of ovens around the world, day after day,” Elisa Rodrigues, regional marketing and communication lead of IFF’s health and biosciences division LATAM, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“The cultures are clean label solutions to control browning, unlike many alternatives on the market that are formulated with additives. They meet consumer preferences for natural products.”

Moving toward Latin America
IFF’s Choozit BC Cultures were first launched in the European market in 2019 and then extended to the North America region in 2020, with a new phage alternative added. 

Today, IFF is promoting the solution within Latin America, which Rodrigues points out, holds a wealth of opportunity. 

“It is estimated that in Brazil there is more than one million pizzas being produced everyday, and in the last three years, launches of ready pizza meals have increased 20 percent,” she says. 

“São Paulo, Brazil, is the second most pizza-consuming city in the world, behind New York. There is a huge market for the pizza cheese producers in all of Latin America.” 

Culture of control
Choozit BC Cultures’ cultures are seleced from Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactococcus lactis strains.  

Phage robustness is built into the Choozit BC Cultures series due to the selection of biodiverse strains.

The formulation is designed for fast acidification, proteolysis control and the ability to consume more galactose during the cheesemaking process.

“They are easy to use DVI cultures, all in one solution with no change of processing parameters, compared to existing cultures. It only brings gains if you consider the better flexibility of pizza baking in oven conveyors, wher the cheese can stay 20 percent more in the oven for the same browning,” affirms Rodrigues.

Sustainability story
IFF’s cultures are also positioned to reduce food waste and energy consumption. Rodrigues notes that there is a much longer shelf life compared to shredded cheese with the same browning control (three months instead of one) and no change of cheese processing conditions.

Moreover, Choozit BC Cultures help pizza cheesemakers use less water in production, a lower volume of whey and less energy for whey drying, she explains. 

Cultures: a natural fit for cheese 
Ingredient suppliers across industry are investing in solutions to give formulators better control over pizza cheese.

Last September, Chr. Hansen launched the F-DVS Pure Appeal culture, which enables pizza makers to achieve a consistent pizza appearance by reducing cheese browning time. 

DSM has also unveiled a culture to enhance pizza cheese production. The DelvoCheese CP-500 cultures are positioned to boost mozzarella cheese production’s yield and resource efficiency while reducing browning and improving melt and stretch.