In research & development we focus on four major themes, four benefit areas that are relevant for consumers and for dairy: daily nutrition, growth & development, health & wellness and the functional benefits of milk for eating and drinking pleasure. And of course we aim to improve our technology and to strengthen our underlying basis through the goodness of milk and our sustainable chain from grass to glass.
Daily nutrition
Dairy plays an important role in the daily nutritional needs of many people across the globe. Milk’s nutritive goodness is deliciously easy to enjoy through a wealth of products. Three servings of milk a day are all we need to meet the daily balance of many of life’s essential nutrients.
In our innovation programmes we focus on nutrient richness and new ways to unlock this nutritive power of milk in the daily diet, whether it is in dairy-based beverages, cheese or perhaps new ways that we are as yet unaware of. For example, we developed Peak evaporated milk in sachets (2009). Through this innovation we have made the nutritional value of milk accessible to more people in West Africa. We have also enhanced people’s daily nutrition by improving the taste and texture of Campina plain yoghurt in the Netherlands (2009). Who would have thought of innovation in plain yoghurt?
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Growth & development of children
Based on scientific evidence, we are convinced of the role of dairy in growth & development of children. Children and youngsters have specific nutritional needs for the growth and development of their bones, teeth, organs, and brains. By nature, milk contributes to this.
Our researchers focus on the needs of children and youngsters and on those components in milk that could be beneficial for them. One of our innovations is Vivinal GOS, a prebiotic ingredient that we extract from milk. Vivinal GOS is used in infant and toddler nutrition.
In order to enhance growth and development of children at several stages in their lives and to provide even better daily nutrition, we have developed the Triplet milk concept for several countries in South East Asia (2010). Triplet consists of three milk compositions for three age groups.
In the area of growth & development, our focus is on strengthening the immune system. Milk naturally contains many components that are beneficial in this respect.
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Health & wellness
Adults at all stages of life aspire to enjoy life in good health. This not only requires a healthy lifestyle, but it also means taking in the right amount of a wide range of nutrients and liquids. Our body and mind are complex and need a mix of hundreds of specific nutrients delivered in just the right balance.
For certain purposes, such as weight management and a better immune system, people may need more specific nutrients in a different balance.
Our researchers aim at generating new insights in the need for health & wellness and in the way in which milk components are beneficial. And of course our developers are looking for product solutions that make these benefits easily accessible. How about our delicious Milner cheese, with a lower fat and salt content? Weight control is the focus area in the field of health & wellness.
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Eating and drinking pleasure
Milk naturally does great things for our eating and drinking pleasure. In everything we develop, we of course aim to maintain or even improve taste, smell and mouthfeel.
We focus on the multiple benefits of milk proteins to develop new contributions to eating and drinking pleasure. We serve many professional and industrial customers with dairy products and ingredients, which they in turn use to improve the taste and texture of their products. For our professional and industrial customers in particular, our innovation aims at developing new ways to use the functional power of milk for the benefit of their products. But we also apply the same to our consumer products.
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Strengthen our basis
Apart from the processing technology, it all starts with the goodness of milk, our production chain from grass to glass, and by doing things in a sustainable way.
Improving our technology
At FrieslandCampina, we process milk and milk components in a wide variety of products. We firmly believe that state of the art technology is key to protecting the goodness of milk and making it available in the best way for consumers and customers alike.
Although we have over a century of experience in dairy processing, we firmly believe that we can improve and even reinvent processes for the benefit of our consumers and customers. This could include new ways of extracting components from milk, heating and product preparation. After all, we did it with our milk prism technology (2010). In the near future, concentrating and drying will be our main focus.
Goodness of milk
We have learned a lot about the goodness of milk in the past 100 years; about the relationship between the composition of milk and dairy products on one hand and about feeding and breeding by farms on the other. And we have also learned a lot about their impact on sustainability.
But that’s just the start of the story. There is still so much more to discover about the nutritive promise of milk. We are still learning about milk’s magic, discovering new components, new health benefits and new applications.
Chain from grass to glass
Our co-operative chain starts with dairy farms throughout the Netherlands and specific regions in Germany and Belgium. For us the challenge is finding out how we can get more out of the goodness of milk if farmers apply specific feeding or breeding techniques. We know the natural variety is there, but how can we manage it for the benefit of us all?
Sustainability
The same applies to the impact on sustainability, when it comes to energy consumption, product packaging and the CO2 footprint of the entire dairy chain, and the health and welfare of our dairy cows.
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