IDM | Ingredients
Nutritional beverages
Adding value and growth
Author: Bent Oestergaard, Managing Director OCon ApS, Denmark; bent@ocon.one
Nutritional beverage (Nutri-Bev) is a new example of product
crossover between dairy and food & beverage industries. Ice
cream was a dairy product, however today it is more a confectionary
product and another example is the crossover in butter
and margarine, resulting in new dairy blends categories.
Ready to drink nutritional beverage combines healthy and functional
dairy protein ingredients with delicious beverage fruit and flavors
etc. There is a growing potential for new value added categories including
dairy and none dairy proteins and a wide range of tasty flavor
ingredients to satisfy the consumers thirst for functional, health &
wellness beverage combined with indulgency demands.
Both the dairy and beverage industry (none alcoholic) are increasingly
focusing on nutritional beverage categories and this
article will deal with new growth opportunities and industry cocreation
as a mean for disruptive innovation of new attractive
Nutri-Bev categories.
40 · 8 2017 | international-dairy.com
Nutri-Bev categories and formulations
The potential composition or formulation of Nutri-Bev categories
is enormous, however the two-main dairy based categories comprises:
High acid (cultured), e.g. yoghurt, and low acid dairy protein
based beverage. Each main category can be divided in series
of subcategories designed for e.g. infants, children, adults, seniors
and sports drinks. Other product series can be according to fruit,
flavors, tee/coffee, cereals, vegetables and particulates etc. Also,
the basic formulation can vary significantly:
• Milk and/or vegetable fat, from low to high content
• Milk with adjusted casein or whey protein content
• Pure whey protein or fractions, or pure casein; reduced or fortified
• Combined whey and soy proteins and/or other vegetable proteins
• Animal proteins; insects like crickets and mealworms (future options)
• Lactose free: No, or low lactose content (lactose intolerance)
• Reduced salt and/or increased calcium content (senior beverage)
photo: colourbox.de