New extract of milk protein big earner?

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 26

New extract of milk protein big earner?

PA Nelson A new product, called total milk protein (T.M.P.). produced in Takaka, could become a big export earner for New Zealand. • A 20-tonne batch of T.M.P. produced by Golden Bay Dairies Co-operative, in Takaka, is the first commercial production of T.M.P. anywhere in the world, according to a Dairy Board spokesman. The T.M.P. was produced by a secret process developed and patented by the board. T.M.P. is expected to be

used to boost protein in a range of convenience foods, including sausages, salami, and whipped toppings. The full range of uses is not known yet.

The 20-tonne batch will be sent to the United States. The T.M.P. will be tested and evaluated there by the board’s American subsidiary. New Zealand Milk Products Inc., at its laboratory in California, where the method of extracting all the protein from milk, a process that had eluded researchers in the past, was developed. Previously it had been considered impossible to isolate all the skim-milk protein in a pure and soluble form. A spokesman for the board said that the new product opened the possibility for a far wider range of products

than had been possible with the two other main protein extracts from milk: protein and lacto-albumin. It is believed that T.M.P. can emulsify fat and that it can also be whipped into a stable foam. It could then be used in' products such as sausages or salami and the fat would not sizzle out during cooking. It also means that it could be used in products such as whipped toppings on frozen deserts and it would not lose its shape. The use of casein in pro-

cessed foods has grown rapidly in the last 10 years. Once considered only’ suitable as an industrial product, casein gained . popularity in coffee Whiteners and was ’ then adopted in a number of foods. It is being used widely in frozen foods that need a stabiliser during thawing. Casein has also gained popularity as cottage cheese, which is casein with the fat and moisture removed. There has also been considerable growth in demand for lacto-albumin, which is used in baking.