Soaring free-from demand boosts Uelzena’s lactose-free range

Growing demand for free-from foods has led Uelzena Ingredients to expand its lactose-free product range over the past few years, helping to differentiate it from the competition, according to the company’s product manager Anja Brand.

Free-from foods, including lactose-free dairy products, now are on the shopping lists of one-third of European consumers, according to market research organisation IRI. Compared to other parts of the world, Europe has relatively low rates of lactose intolerance, but IRI says the market has been driven by consumers who consider lactose-free products to be healthier options. Less than 10% of Europeans are thought to be lactose intolerant, while the proportion is as high as 95% in parts of Africa and Asia.

“The market for lactose-free products in Germany and Europe has risen continuously and significantly,” said Brand. “There are also new markets for milk products and European food in Asia, where lactose is traditionally tolerated less well, which is why lactose-free product variants are part of every brand range today, both for classic milk products and processed food containing milk. So we now offer many of our milk products as lactose-free variants as well to our customers from the delicatessen and food industries. This differentiates us from many competitors on the market.”

Uelzena is a second-level dairy cooperative, meaning that its eight members are also dairy cooperatives. It has five locations for processing milk and dairy products across northern Germany, with core competences in milk processing, spray drying and handling dry mixes.

The company prides itself on its wide range of high quality milk-based ingredients for the confectionery, bakery and delicatessen industries, as well as its specialty fats, like anhydrous milk fat, butter and butter fat, which can add an appealing texture and mouthfeel to baked goods, chocolate, chocolate confectionery and ice cream.

“Alongside a large portfolio of standard ingredients with different varieties, one of our special strengths is adapting our ingredients to individual customer requirements,” Brand said. “For example, concerning fat content, dry mass or melting points, as well as developing milk fat compounds completely according to customer wishes, precisely adjusted to their products and production processes.”

Milk-derived ingredients also benefit from growing demand for clean label products. Indeed, clean label is no longer considered an optional extra for food manufacturers, and dairy ingredients are widely recognised as naturally nutritious.

“Milk-based ingredients and especially anhydrous milk fat and butter have become very interesting as ingredients, because they are both purely natural and good tasting,” she said. “In the past few years we have noticed a trend away from vegetable fats towards milk fat and we are actively accompanying this process.”

In addition, the company has increased its kosher and halal certifications to cover nearly all of its products, as it has expanded into new markets. These certifications are increasingly in demand in Europe too, but Brand says they are essential for many export markets.

“The export market has also become increasingly important to us in the past few years and we are increasing our export business, for example to the Middle East, Asia and Africa,” she said. “But we still have a strong focus in Europe. We have traditionally supplied the largest brand manufacturers in Europe for decades.”

To support rapidly increasing demand, Uelzena is currently expanding its capacity, and has invested €31 million to build a fully automated high-bay racking warehouse, and a modernised spray tower that will increase output from 18 to 22 tonnes a year.