Inqredients in use: say it with cheese powder & flavoring

Prepared Foods, Feb, 2003 by Claudia D. O'Donnell

In another example, Hostess Frito-Lay (Pepsi-Cola Canada) launched Doritos Extreme Tortilla Chips in Canada early last year. "Cheddar & Sour Cream and Bold BBQ are...loaded with intense flavor," claims the company. Its cheese powder contains cheddar, Monterey jack, Swiss, and Colby cheeses. The product was introduced on the U.S. market in mid-2001.

Most cheese powder and flavoring use among snacks is a bit less extreme. Kraft Foods North America's Nabisco, Parsippany, N.J., Wheat Thins in Ranch flavor, which is "Oven baked like a cracker, crispy like a chip" hit the market last summer (2002). Cheddar cheese powder is a key flavoring ingredient.

The power of cheese is well known to children and adolescents, many which prefer their pizza with cheese...just cheese. Now, Gerber, Fremont, Mich., bridges the gap between baby food and a new Improved Taste Gerber Graduates For Toddlers Pasta Shells & Cheese. Introduced around December of 2002, the 6-oz. tub retails for about $1.19. It is rich in protein and provides zinc, says the company. Zinc is incorporated in the form of zinc sulfate.

The product contains both cheddar cheese and two cheese flavors...one made from cheese, whey, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, whey protein concentrate and several other ingredients, a second from enzyme modified blue cheese. A more intense flavor can be developed when various protein- and fat-cleaving enzymes (proteases and lipases, respectively) are used to treat cheese.

www.usdec.org/products/CheeseSpecs/CheesePowders.htm--Brief description of cheese powders and enzyme-modified cheeses and their benefits (from the U.S. Dairy Export Council)

www.extraordinarydairy.com/Standard.asp?ContenfPageld=59--Discussion of research info cheese powder flavor loss during baking in snacks and other products

www.pfgoldfish.com

www.nabisco.com

www.gerber.com

Market Segments

2002 Global New Products with Cheese Powder

Category                             Number  Percent

Bakery                                 53      20%
Confectionery                           7       3%
Meals & meal centers                   38      14%
Pet food                               10       4%
Processed fish, meat & egg products     8       3%
Sauces & seasonings                    13       5%
Side dishes                            14       5%
Snacks                                118      44%
Other                                   6       2%
Total                                 268     100%

Source: Mintel's Global New Products Database www.gnpd.com/Ph.
312-932-0400 / Prepared Foods

Short List of Cheese Powder and Cheese Flavoring Suppliers

(See also the online directory of the Food Master for a more extensive list of cheese and cheese powder suppliers. Go to www.FoodMaster.com and click on the ingredients section.)

DairiConcepts L.P., Hummelstown, Penn.,

717-566-4500

sharrison@dairiconcepts.com

David Michael & Co.,

Philadelphia, Penn.

215-632-3100

dmflavor@dmflavors.com

www.dmflavors.com.

Dragoco/Haarmann & Reimer

201-462-2292