Australia’s Nourish ingredients and global dairy co-operative Fonterra today announced a unique collaboration to accelerate development of dairy products with fats produced by precision fermentation.

The collaboration will combine Nourish Ingredients’s fermentation-based animalic fats with Fonterra’s decades of dairy expertise and global scale to meet the growing demand for novel, animal-free ingredients.

Precision fermentation refers to the use of microorganisms to produce specific, functional food ingredients. In the case of Nourish Ingredients, the Canberra-based company uses the technology to create specialty fats such as its recently debuted Creamilux product, a dairy-type lipid solution that aims to deliver authentic creamy taste, aroma, and mouthfeel to dairy foods without the use of animals.

Nourish Ingredients said in a statement that the joint effort will begin with a focus on product innovation, exploring applications for Creamilux across a range of dairy categories, including cheese, cream, butter and others.

In addition, the companies will explore opportunities for the fats to provide enhancements to non-dairy, adjacent product segments such as bakery that traditionally rely on dairy lipids.

James Petrie, CEO at Nourish Ingredients, said, “This collaboration balances our passion for creating innovative ingredients with hard-nosed applications to unlock massive product opportunities. We are overcoming specific animal ingredient bottlenecks to optimise current animal-based food production capacity without losing quality.

“This allows us to enable our partners to meet demand with our potent lipids without sacrificing taste and experience. Fonterra is a great partner that lets us bring our vision to commercial reality as quickly as possible.”

Nourish Ingredients said the Fonterra team first tasted Creamilux in January this year, after which the companies quickly moved to collaborate.

Jeremy Hill, Chief Science and Technology Officer at Fonterra, said, “Nourish Ingredients is taking a unique approach that aligns perfectly with Fonterra’s focus on leadership in dairy innovation science and being at the forefront of such innovative new food ingredients. By partnering together, we can explore new ways to help meet the growing global demand for great-tasting, texturally appealing products that deliver exceptional experiences to customers.

“Dairy will always be at the core of our business, now and in the future. At the same time, ingredients produced through emerging technologies can work seamlessly in and alongside our dairy products, expanding the range of products and choices we can offer to customers and consumers.”

The collaboration represents the latest example of Fonterra - a leading producer of conventional dairy products - partnering with a start-up to develop products utilising ingredients made by precision fermentation. Earlier this year, the New Zealand-based dairy giant released its own precision fermentation-produced whey powder product by way of Dutch startup Vivici.

Other major food manufacturers exploring fermentation technology as a means for ingredients production include Nestle SA, FrieslandCampina, and Danone.

Nourish Ingredients told Future Alternative it was among those companies it was looking to collaborate with were global ingredient makers, flavour houses, and food manufacturers.