Planteneers Introduces Plant-Based Cheese Alternatives With Improved Nutritional Profile

According to Innova Market, “plant forward” is a worldwide phenomenon and one of the Top Ten Trends for this year. The rising popularity of plant-based products, especially among flexitarians, will according to industry experts lead to growing demand for new formats, plant proteins and higher-end alternatives. One example is cheese alternatives, a product category of high interest to flexitarians. Cheese is often a part of the diet that’s hard to give up.

Planteneers focuses on taste and texture, as well as the nutritional profile. With the all-in compounds in the fiildDairy range, the company offers a selection of plant-based alternatives to cheese such as cream cheese and pizza cheese.

Networked research around protein qualities

The market research results from Innova Market Insights show the potential that plant-based cheese alternatives have. Consumers like cheese very much, and it is an important product category in the plant-based alternatives market. Dr. Dorotea Pein, Director Product Management at Planteneers, comments, “in terms of technology, plant-based products have reached the point where they are very similar to their animal equivalents. They have the flavour and texture people want, brown well, and with their melting behaviour make any pizza a delicious treat. However, their nutritional value has room for improvement, since unlike with meat alternatives, plant protein cannot be readily used in cheese technology.”

To change this, Planteneers is researching new solutions in the company’s own Plant Based Competence Center. With its sister company Hydrosol, Planteneers is also a cooperation partner with the NewFoodSystems innovation space supported by the German Ministry of Education.

Nutritious cheese alternatives address growth trend

With plant-based alternatives to cream and hard cheese, manufacturers can add new trend products to their offerings. If, in addition to positive technical attríbutes, these also feature nutritional profiles with the essential amino acids needed by the body, they meet consumers’ desire for healthy nutrition, which is important because healthy indulgence remains one of the mega-trends on the international food market. The market for enriched milk alternatives is the best proof of this.

“Plant-based drinks enriched with special nutrients are the strongest category by a wide margin,” comments Dr. Pein. “In close collaboration with our sister company SternVitamin we have already developed enriched plant drinks for special target groups, and so gained experience in this area. Now we’re building on these approaches to improve the nutritional profile of plant-based cheese alternatives.

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