Skip links

Hey, egg-heads – the food industry beat you to it!

By Richard Clarke
Managing Director of Ingredient Communications

In good time for Easter, scientists in California announced last week they had ‘un-boiled’ a hen’s egg in an experiment designed to illustrate how they could engineer proteins at will. It was a very smart thing to do, and sounds a lot of fun, and there are some good reasons to do it. As well as helping in the fight against cancer, apparently it could also lead to benefits for food producers.

And, indeed, there was a familiar ring to all this. Anyone who’s spent any time hanging out with the guys at Arla Foods Ingredients (based in Denmark) will know that doing clever things with proteins is bread-and-butter stuff to them. Their business has been built on ‘fractionating’ the whey proteins in cows’ milk  – using completely natural means – to isolate individual proteins that perform specific functions in food and beverage products.

The best way to picture this is to imagine that the proteins in milk are a bunch of Lego bricks – all different shapes, sizes and colours – all stuck together.  Basically, Arla Foods Ingredients’ food technologists take the bricks apart and put them back together again in ways that turn them into ingredients perfect for certain applications.

Untitled Banner

There’s a whey protein ingredient for making milky drinks, and one for making clear drinks. There’s a protein for cutting fat levels in ice creams, and another for reducing salt in processed cheeses. There’s a protein that turns the acid whey generated by Greek yoghurt-making into value-added dairy products. And there’s a range of proteins which – ironically considering the story that inspired this blog – can replace eggs in all kinds of bakery products.

This is just a small selection of what’s possible. So, well done to the ‘egg-heads’ in California. But I’ve got news for you: when it comes to doing clever things with proteins, the ingredients industry got there first.

Ingredients suppliers have such great stories to tell and, as a specialist PR agency for the sector, we take enormous pride in helping our clients tell theirs in compelling and engaging ways that resonate with their target audience.

Why not tell your story, too?  Just click here and request a free communications appraisal today.