Now, more than ever, consumers are turning to comprehensive and holistic approaches for their overall well-being. Since the pandemic, consumers have placed increased importance on accessing nutrition that best supports their general health. Products that incorporate functional ingredients – such as those that can help improve mood, mental state, or cognitive performance – as well as those that offer guilt-free indulgence truly resonate at this time, as stated in an analysis published by DairyReporter.

How do dairy products fit into this space?

Dairy has become a preferred product for consumers who perceive it as nourishing, and functional yogurt and dairy beverages are on the rise as consumers seek dairy products for healthy nutrition.

In the US, at least 72% of milk consumers believe that dairy products have a positive impact on their health and well-being. We also observe an increase in messaging and packaging that highlights specific health benefits – for example, in areas such as immunity and bone, eye, or gut health.

Reducing sugar and salt are also in consumers' focus, but dairy products still provide a source of great taste experience and pleasure. At IFF, we offer industry-leading solutions and a comprehensive portfolio of dairy ingredients ranging from fresh yogurt cultures, cheese starter cultures, and probiotics to stabilizers, flavors, and lactase.

What is IFF doing to help producers stay ahead of the market?

IFF has a deep understanding of market trends and white spaces in the dairy product industry. Based on these market trends and our unique knowledge, our technical teams design innovative concepts using our wide portfolio of cultures, probiotics, enzymes, ingredients, and flavors to tap into new markets and enhance consumers' consumption experience.

How do you see the evolution of consumer needs regarding dairy products?

PANOPTIC is IFF's own trend and foresight capability that identifies impactful shifts and dynamics shaping the future of the food and beverage industry. It inspires and drives future strategic creation and innovation by understanding the most influential trends of today and tomorrow.

Regarding the future of the dairy product industry, our knowledge has highlighted four key lifestyle trends that need to be considered when analyzing the design, development, or innovation of new products:

1. Ubiquitous health and well-being – Consumers desire to live a healthier lifestyle.
2. Conscious consumers – Consumers make more informed choices regarding what they eat, what their food contains, and where it comes from.
3. Critical and ethical consumers – Consumers are concerned about how companies behave beyond the products they sell.
4. Amplified experience – Consumers still want products to feel like a treat, providing pleasure and allowing them to experience new tastes and textures.

What opportunities and challenges will this mean for producers?

To continue innovating and providing solutions for dairy products, we will need to ensure that we consider all these evolving needs states. We know that while consumers are eager to make healthier choices, they are not willing to compromise on the sensory experience.

Taste is still a crucial factor of differentiation in dairy products, and this is an area where consumer expectations present dairy producers with an increasingly complex challenge: how to produce delicious dairy products that are low in sugar and high in fiber while containing a minimal amount of lactose? This stems from the growing demand for healthier products that support overall well-being.

For example, IFF's NURICA™ is a lactase with a difference. Our innovative enzyme helps dairy producers transform the natural sugars in milk into GOS (galacto-oligosaccharides), thereby enhancing its nutritional profile.

This approach provides producers with an opportunity to create healthier dairy products, rich in fiber, and with a reduced lactose content. However, it also presents challenges in terms of reformulating recipes, ensuring sensory appeal, and educating consumers about the benefits of these new offerings.

By embracing these opportunities and addressing the challenges, dairy producers can stay ahead of the market and cater to the evolving needs and preferences of consumers seeking healthier and more functional dairy options.

Do you expect plant-based dairy to continue to grow?

Consumers are increasingly looking for guilt-free indulgence with functional health benefits. While many are looking for ways to incorporate plant-based dairy into their diets, expectations about product taste and texture remain high.

At IFF we have an extensive portfolio of plant-based products supporting these requirements by mimicking the taste and texture of traditional dairy products. Our portfolio includes a variety of cultures suitable for different matrices (pea, soy, coconut, etc.), protective cultures, probiotics and enzymes.

With a wide range of use cases for dairy products, taste innovation is growing in importance for consumers. Brands have the opportunity to creatively use ingredients and flavors to meet changing consumer tastes, including creating products for different times of the day and for different occasions.

And as taste continues to be a determining factor driving the purchase decision, the importance of harnessing flavors to mask unpleasant notes and enhance taste is critical in plant-based alternatives. We have plenty of solutions for plant-based dairy, too.

In addition to flavor, what other factors drive dairy product purchases?

We see a strong element of emotion, fun, and joy in the dairy product space. Consumers show interest in brands that offer an escape through various aspects of sensory adventure. Take ice cream, for example.

This is a category where consumers are open to experimenting with new flavor combinations. Taste and texture are vital to maintaining a sense of indulgence, even in healthier options such as reduced-sugar products.

Our Taste Design™ approach can help producers create enriching sensory experiences. For instance, FLAVORFIT™ provides excellent sweetness profile and a perception of creaminess, even in healthier products with low sugar and fat content.

In fact, our new CREMODAN® GREENPRO 101 Modulator Enhanced System is specifically designed to enable ice cream producers to create premium-quality ice creams at affordable prices. It is a blend of ice cream stabilizer system and flavor modulation technology, maintaining the indulgent quality in terms of taste and mouthfeel of the ice cream.

By understanding and addressing these factors, dairy producers can meet consumer expectations for enjoyable, indulgent, and innovative dairy products.

What other challenges do dairy producers face?

Consumer habits and preferences are constantly evolving, which means that manufacturers must meet the increasingly diverse demands of consumers around the globe.

An example of where IFF can help here is with YO-MIX® PRIME, which we developed to serve as a toolbox for dairy processors looking to meet and exceed regional premium expectations.

Due to its low post-acidification characteristics, it allows producers to expand their distribution reach while providing a premium taste experience until the end of the shelf life.

Another product we offer is HOLDBAC®, a state-of-the-art, consumer-friendly bioprotective culture for the extended freshness of fresh dairy and cheeses that enables producers to play a role in reducing food waste by keeping produce fresh for longer time.

How can manufacturers satisfy a variety of global tastes that meet specific needs?

At IFF, product design and innovation are at the heart of what we do. IFF Product Design™ is dedicated to delivering end-to-end product innovation from concept to consumer. Our innovative approach combines advanced insights, recipe design and taste expertise to meet and exceed consumer expectations, wherever they are in the world.

By designing products based on the specific needs of our customers – and their consumer – we are able to leverage our extensive product portfolio and industry-leading experience to become an essential partner for the next generation of food and beverage.

For example, our range of YO-MIX® fresh dairy cultures and probiotics, including YO-MIX® PRIME, help meet the diversity of consumer preferences as well as industry demands in the fresh fermented dairy industry.

And we have a very broad portfolio of probiotics that address a range of specific consumer needs, from digestive and immune health to weight management, as part of our HOWARU® range of probiotics. We enable dairy customers to incorporate their benefits into a variety of fermented dairy products.

Through our IFF Product Design™ approach, we can provide the unmatched expertise and portfolio our customers need to create industry-leading dairy products that meet evolving trends. Product development and application expertise ensures a dedicated team of dairy experts create custom solutions for each customer's unique needs.

How prominent is sustainability in shaping dairy innovation?

Our data shows that consumers are looking for products that offer sustainability options and those that help them make a positive impact on the environment. Packaging is an important one here and certainly an area where manufacturers can respond and make changes.

For example, ensuring that packaging is easier to recycle or using less material overall. Upcycling, renewable energy sources and regenerative agriculture are also trending.

In a world where resource availability and affordability pose greater challenges, dairy producers will need to use cultures and enzymes to provide cost-effective, high-quality, healthier, label-friendly and sustainable dairy products.

How does IFF help to address customer sustainability concerns?

We consider sustainability in all our product development. This amplifies our positive impact on both people and the planet – innovating to support the wider impact of the dairy industry is an integral part of what we do.

We have extensive experience in microbial diversity and biotechnology to develop solutions that reduce food waste by keeping food fresher for longer and supporting production and supply chain logistics that use less water and energy.

Another benefit of this is that because we consider yield and cost when it comes to manufacturing, these innovations also help our customers create more affordable products.

In the ice cream category, for example, this is a focus for our innovation pipeline. It's a double win because such advances are underpinned by a commitment to support the industry to become more sustainable and help make the world a better place.

Another initiative we are passionate about is tackling the challenge of waste by upcycling it into value-added products. IFF's zero-waste philosophy is dedicated to the creative use of by-products from normally discarded secondary streams, harnessing their greatest value and improving the way we use resources.

Within the business, we are reassessing applications for secondary materials in manufacturing processes, piloting food waste reduction projects, commercializing new recycled ingredients and further developing our pipeline of potential new opportunities.