Novozymes A/S : New enzyme makes high protein drinks taste better

Around the world, consumers care about their health and want to buy food that support well-being. Protein-enriched food & beverage, and particularly ready-to-drink protein beverages are in high demand; it's a growing product category for sports nutrition companies and large beverage producers.

While health is important for consumers, many people have experienced off-tastes such as bitterness or astringency that, in many cases, come along with protein food and beverages. To compensate, manufacturers would very often add ingredients to mask such off-tastes.

'We have developed Formea Prime to help beverage producers and brands to overcome the typical formulation challenges when using whey protein hydrolysates, particularly in ready-to-drink protein beverages,' says Christian Schmock, Head of Business Unit for Food Platforms at Novozymes

Formea Prime is a protease enzyme and it builds on Novozymes' enzymatic Formea platform, which was developed for protein drinks.

'Used in the production process, Formea Prime provides all the benefits of whey protein hydrolysates, such as improved stability and improved absorption - but without the problems of bitter taste,' explains Christian Schmock. 'With Formea Prime brands do not need to add ingredients to secure the taste that consumers want.'

Market analytics find that the trend for protein fortified food & beverage products continues to grow rapidly. Alone, the global sports nutrition market is poised for exceptional expansion with industry's growth at a CAGR of 11% toward 2023, to reach $26 billion*.

As the market develops, the consumer market is changing from sportsmen to everyone. Aging people are becoming more focused on retaining muscle mass, and they also seek to buy protein fortified drinks.

'New consumers are looking for larger variety of products, products with higher protein content, better sensorial experience, more convenient products such as shelf-stable drinks. And consumers also care about the environmental impact of food production, and they want cleaner label. This is exactly what Formea Prime helps manufacturers to overcome,' says Christian Schmock.

Novozymes has launched Formea Prime globally.

To learn more about Formea Prime, please visit here.

^*References. Market growth of sports drinks. Reference and data by 3A Consulting Group in 2019 report.