News

DSM cheese-ripening enzyme now benzoate-free

15 Jun 2018

DSM has announced that Accelerzyme CPG, the company’s proprietary enzyme for accelerated cheese ripening, is now benzoate-free, bringing it into line with the company's core portfolio.

DSM has announced that Accelerzyme CPG, the company’s proprietary enzyme for accelerated cheese ripening, is now benzoate-free. With this upgrade, DSM says its core portfolio of cheese enzymes - including Maxiren XDS and Fromase - is now completely benzoate free, allowing cheesemakers to respond to growing consumer demand for dairy products with a clean and clear label.

With artificial preservatives falling out of favour, DSM notes that cheesemakers are increasingly on the lookout for benzoate-free enzymes which help to guarantee not just cheese but also whey is benzoate-free. DSM is upgrading its entire cheese enzyme portfolio in response to this need, employing innovative production technology and changing the formulation matrixes of these products to eliminate the need for benzoate-based preservation.

“Today’s cheese manufacturers face multiple challenges - to continually increase cheese quality, while optimizing whey value and producing their products in an efficient, sustainable way,” said Evandro Oliveira de Souza, Global Business Lead for Cheese at DSM Food Specialties. “High-quality, high-purity ingredients are key. At DSM, we want to continuously improve our portfolio to keep pace with the changing consumer and customer demand for better, healthier, and more sustainable food.”

The latest addition to the benzoate-free range of cheese enzymes is Accelerzyme CPG, described as a unique carboxypeptidase cheese ripening enzyme that accelerates balanced flavour formation in a variety of different cheese types. Accelerzyme CPG causes small peptides and amino acids in milk to release faster during the ripening process, converting these to flavour components by the added cheese cultures. This is claimed to result in a faster ripening time, and a smaller environmental footprint.

Products in DSM’s portfolio of benzoate-free cheese enzymes include Maxiren XDS, a chymosin preparation with the highest-known protein specificity, which enables producers to get more from their milk and increase annual production by around 1%. Other products are Fromase, a microbial coagulant (endopeptidase) preparation, and a portfolio of lipases.