Boosting health appeal: Chr. Hansen launches new adjunct culture amid booming interest in fermented plant bases

01 Mar 2019 --- Danish-headquartered bioscience company Chr. Hansen has launched nu-trish LGG DA, an adjunct culture that gives a fast and robust fermentation when combined with a starter culture. The new addition to the company’s culture range comes in a format for fermented plant bases at a time when NPD within plant-based foods is accelerating. According to the company, it has been created to keep pace with growing probiotic demand as plant-based producers look for new ways to innovate in this space. This is also driven by growing consumer interest in the relationship between gut flora and general health.

Chr. Hansen unveils the Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG strain which has been studied in more than 300 clinical studies and described in more than 1,200 scientific publications.

Specifically developed for fermented plant bases and produced under strict allergen control, the new culture supports producers seeking to strengthen the health profile of their products.
Together with nu-trish BB-12 DA, Chr. Hansen claims to have “the two best-documented probiotics in the world available for fermented plant bases.”

“We are pleased to launch nu-trish LGG DA for fermented plant bases, in line with current consumer trends seeking more probiotic-enriched options,” says Lasse Vigel Joergensen, Global Commercial Development Manager at Chr. Hansen. “With our culture range, we can ferment all plant bases available in the market and add world-class probiotics. Over the past year, we have entered more than 100 partnerships globally in the fermented plant-base segment and we believe we will see much more of this.”

Nu-trish LGG DA also ensures the correct levels of the LGG strain to make it relevant as a true probiotic, notes the company. 

“We are delighted to launch a solution that brings the goodness of probiotics into plant-based foods. That enables us to meet the increasing consumer demands for food products with added health benefits,” notes Joergensen.
“However, while health is a key driver, it still has to taste good. A product can be as healthy as you could imagine, but if it doesn’t taste good, it will never take off. Building on our competencies in fermentation and our special cultures, we can ensure the mild and fresh taste of the fermented plant base that is required by lifestyle and mass market consumers – now with an added health benefit,” he adds. 

The use of probiotics increased by +9.5 percent in 2017 compared with 2016, according to Innova Market Insights data. The leading category for product launches tracked globally in 2017 was Dairy (60 percent). The leading probiotics used in all 2017 food & beverages launches tracked were Streptococcus Thermophilus (29 percent), Lactobacillus Acidophilus (26 percent) and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus (25 percent). 

Kristen Katzman, Senior Marketing Manager at Chr. Hansen, reiterates the significance in the fermented plant bases trend. 

“We know from our recent consumer survey, that consumers who choose fermented plant bases do so for a beneficial nutritional reason,” she says. “Products focusing on general naturalness and health gain the most traction among consumers, and a ‘better-for-you’ profile is the primary motivator for purchasing plant-based foods,” adds Katzman.