SOUTH AFRICA – Tate & Lyle, a global provider of food and beverage ingredients and solutions has partnered with Long Life Dairy, a subsidiary of South Africa’s dairy manufacturer Unique Dairy to enhance consumer access to dairy.
The two firms will collaborate in creating a range of low cost, long shelf life products to enable more families with limited access to refrigeration to benefit from dairy products.
Developed using Tate & Lyle’s stabilisers and functional systems, the affordable range will include yoghurt-style dairy snacks, bottled milkshakes and custard pouches which according to the companies do not require refrigeration and can keep up to one year.
“Many dairy products on sale in South Africa require cold storage and, although ambient shelf life milk and custard are widely available, there are few on-the-go dairy options for immediate consumption,” said Stefan Van der Berg, General Manager, Long Life Dairy.
In South Africa, dairy is the most commonly consumed food after fruit and vegetables, with experts citing availability and cost as the main barriers to consumption.
Refrigeration cost – in which a typical yoghurt would require refrigeration and have a use by date of up to 30 days has also been cited as a major barrier towards affordability of dairy products.
The development follows a sequence of trials on different recipe formulations with collaboration between Tate & Lyle technical service teams in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Lübeck, Germany as well as Long Life Dairy’s development team.
Neels Poerstamper, Technical Support Manager South Africa, Tate & Lyle, said that the innovative solution will ensure consumers have affordable access to dairy products.
“Using our innovative stabiliser ingredient blends, we are proud to have helped Long Life Dairy to create an innovative new product range that will help more families to enjoy the benefits of dairy, particularly those without access to cold storage,” said Neels.
“This product innovation demonstrates how, with customers, we are providing access to nutritious and affordable foods, and delivering on our purpose of Improving Lives for Generations.”
