MTLs Installation of Microparticulation Plant Set to Offer Customers Superior Low Fat Products

MTL has continued to increase its range of new equipment in recent months. As of early 2017 customers have been availing of the new Micro Formula unit for Microparticulation designed and developed by GEA Filtration.

This unit makes it possible to utilize whey, a bi-product from cheese production, to increase product yield and replace fat.

The microparticulation process forms particles similar to milk fat particles. It works by heat treating the product above 75 °C in order to denature whey proteins, then mechanical treatment with a high shear effect in order to form particles with a size identical to the particle size of fat globules in milk.

In the last decade, the consumer demand for low fat product has been growing with increasing focus on the health aspect in foods. This trend has given an opportunity for the producers to improve and to release new products on the market with a lower fat content as normal.

Today the consumer has already a wide range of cheese, fermented products, ice cream etc. with reduced fat content to choose among in the supermarkets. However the products have to be accepted by the consumer and the available products are often in lack of consistency and texture properties like full-fat products. In other words the sensory and functional properties are not fulfilled in the low fat products compared with the traditional full-fat.

This trend gives huge potential and possibilities for the dairy and food companies to implement the revolutionary microparticulation process. The microparticulation process is a result of physical change in size without any chemical change of the actual protein.

When proteins are microparticulated they get more soluble or dispersed in the milk serum. The particles are shown to have an excellent ball bearing effect when supplying or substituting fat. This is especially important to customers in application where emulsions and stabilizing effect is essential.

Potential Customer uses

Microparticulated whey can be used in a number of dairy products and will be of significant importance to a number of customers. This is especially true in products where the fat can be replaced. These can include:

• Most cheese types (also yield increase)
• Ice cream
• Yoghurt and milk desserts
• Dressing and sauces
• Mayonnaise and fat emulsions
• Other fat containing food products

The processing unit has a simple procedure and offers many advantages through it’s:

• No Scraped Surface Heat Exchangers (SSHE)
• No Homogenizer
• No Tubular Heat Exchangers (THE)
• No Heat Transfer Surfaces > Denaturation Temperature
• Ordinary Plate Heat Exchangers and Flow Components
• Low Maintenance Costs
• No scraps form a scraper blades or stator in the final product
• Yield increase – protein and water binding effect
• Long production time