Tag Archives: dairy

How Cultures & Enzymes Move the Dairy Industry Forward

by Steve Funk | Senior Cheese Technologist at Nelson-Jameson

Cultures and enzymes are biological catalysts for dairy product production, but they’re also catalysts for the dairy industry as a whole. These hard-working elements work quietly behind the scenes to strengthen the industry’s brand reputation, increase dairy product market share, and delight consumers. 

As the industry continues to adapt to changes and face new and long-standing challenges, cultures and enzymes help dairy advocates respond with answers. The trend toward plant-based alternatives is answered with vegetarian enzymes. Interest in health and wellness is answered with cultures that stimulate the probiotic benefits of yogurts, kefirs, and other cultured dairy. Here are five ways that cultures and enzymes are helping dairy processors.  

Consumer Trends: Year after year, dairy processors aim to strike a balance between tradition and innovation. Consumers count on the availability of their favorite dairy products, but they also want new flavors and formats. Cultures and enzymes keep consumers happy by providing consistently produced dairy staples as well as inventive products that introduce new tastes and textures. They can also impact how well a cheese melts, browns, or blends, providing additional variety to culinary usages. 

Food Safety: The use of cultures and enzymes is increasing because of its success in maintaining the integrity of dairy products and enhancing food safety. New bioprotective cultures can replace chemical preservatives, providing consumers and suppliers with preservative-free products that also have better shelf stability.  Of course, cultures and enzymes are not a substitute for other safety protocols, such as knowing your milk source, understanding plant sanitation, and carefully following all steps in a cleaning process. Still, ongoing advances in cultures and enzymes allow dairy processors to inhibit yeast and mold growth, prevent spoilage, and better protect their products. 

Health and Wellness: Ongoing demand for the gut-health benefits of probiotics continues to keep yogurt at the top of cultured dairy sales. Cultures and enzymes also support other health-driven consumer preferences such as reducing lactose or increasing organic consumption. Beyond product features, the health and wellness benefits of cultured dairy enhance awareness of and interest in dairy as a category and its place in the famous food pyramid.

Food innovation: Industry scientists continue to find new pathways for cultures and enzymes. Product developers can use a 50-year-old, patented culture and/or a novel culture developed within the last year to expand a product line – the old and new work in tandem with each other.  Technical experts are creating new avenues for culture and enzyme usage, such as the use of non-traditional cultures to transform the effects in long-standing cheeses. Dairy processing operations benefit from culture and enzyme innovations as well. They can be added to help accelerate production or make it easier to utilize equipment. 

Brand Strength: As dairy processors utilize cultures and enzymes to enhance product uniqueness, satisfy consumers, and find creative solutions to challenges, a bonus result is industry brand strength. Consumers stay engaged with a food & beverage category when it’s both consistent and innovative, and fosters trust in food safety and health benefits.  In turn, this brand strength bolsters marketing and selling opportunities. 

Cultures and enzymes continue to be the workhorses of cultured dairy products, but they’re also indirect lobbyists for the industry. Dairy processors can benefit from continued focus on the role of cultures and enzymes in all aspects of production. 

If you need more insight on enzymes for your dairy product production, contact the experts at Nelson-Jameson (www.nelsonjameson.com).


About Steve Funk

Steve Funk is Senior Cheese Technologist at Nelson-Jameson. As a passionate dairy industry veteran with more than 40 years of experience, he provides customers with advice on ingredients, production processes, and manufacturing improvements to enhance cheese and fermented dairy product results. His innovative approach to quality cheese-making has helped dozens of customers create and launch unique cheese recipes that are market favorites today. Steve is an active member of numerous dairy industry associations and serves as a WDPA representative on the prestigious Master Cheesemakers Board. He supports the next generation of dairy innovators by serving as a NE-DBIC Dairy Processor Expansion Grant reviewer and a mentor for its Northeastern Dairy Product Innovation Competition, an inaugural program managed by Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement and the Northeast Dairy Foods Research Center. He holds a B.S. in Dairy Science and Animal Health from the University of Vermont. When not at work, he enjoys skiing, kayaking, gardening, and spending time with his wife of 38 years, Carla, and their daughter and grandson.

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Partnering to Drive Food Safety

Nelson-Jameson is a proud member of the Innovation Center for US Dairy. The Center and its members have a common goal “to advance a shared social responsibility platform and demonstrate U.S. dairy’s collective commitment to provide the world responsibly produced dairy foods that nourish people, strengthen communities and foster a sustainable future.”

Nelson-Jameson and the Center have a combined passion for furthering food safety in our nation. Recently, the Center published a terrific food safety resource for the dairy industry that includes numerous Spanish language materials. Resources to take advantage of include: interactive training courses for artisan ice cream and cheesemakers, food safety plan writing assistance, training support, pathogen guidance documents, and much more. 

The document’s publication is a reflection of the partnerships between organizations like Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, the American Cheese Society, the North American Ice Cream Association, International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), and numerous other stakeholders to bring educational materials and information to the forefront. Food safety isn’t a competitive advantage…it’s our collective responsibility. Check out the document here and please feel free to share!

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Maxiren® XDS: Going Whey Above and Beyond

Shredded CheeseMaxiren® XDS and Nelson-Jameson make a GOUDA couple!

You FETA BRIE-LIEVE IT!

And yes, we are together for the long haul.

Maxiren® XDS is a fermentation produced chymosin (FPC) that protects, preserves, and optimizes the required coagulant in the cheese process helping cheese reach its full potential of GRATE taste and big smiles. There is an increase of flexibility in the cheese production when Maxiren® XDS is involved. This extraordinary coagulant has a high specificity which lowers the amount of coagulant required, and aids in slowing the breakdown of cheese proteins, resulting in enhanced cheese textures. The enriched texture maintains a longer shelf life which allows shredding, slicing, and dicing to be smooth, natural, and more efficient through different cheese stages.

Just the facts, (Pepper) Jack!

  • Maxiren® XDS manages whey protein. It will be inactive after pasteurization at temperatures between 66° to 73°C, therefore reducing concerns over residual rennet left behind.
  • Strengthens the stretch! Long, thin strands hold better without breaking into thinner strings. Also promotes a reduction in browning and upholds an exceptional cheese melt.
  • A chymosin preparation derived from a selected strain of the dairy yeast Kluyveromyces lactis.
  • Kosher and Halal approved.
  • Not a GMO.
  • Suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
  • Allows for easier shredding, dicing, and slicing of cheese.

For more information, please give us a call! Our Ingredient Product Specialists will be happy to discuss your current processes, and work with you in your facility to suggest the right product for your application.

Go ahead—throw in the Maxiren® XDS—afterall, age is only important when it comes to cheese!

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74 Years of Success in Serving the Dairy, Food, and Beverage Industries

Today we are celebrating 74 years of Nelson-Jameson being a successful family-owned and operated supplier to the food, dairy, and beverage industries! Our journey began in 1947 when Earl Nelson, his father Ted, Herb Jameson, and Bob Dougherty founded Nelson-Jameson as a dairy equipment and supply business in Toluca, IL. Their goal was to serve as a comprehensive resource for dairy plants, but they soon discovered that their Illinois location isn’t ideal. From there, it was decided upon that the headquarters of the business would be moved to Marshfield, WI—the heart of dairy production.

Today, Nelson-Jameson is now run by the fourth generation of the Nelson family. Earl’s grandson, Adam is Chairman of the Board, and his granddaughter Amanda is a senior executive as well. Over the years, Nelson-Jameson has expanded by adding distribution centers in California, Idaho, Pennsylvania, and Texas, plus a sales office in Illinois. The business has also expanded its product offerings to meet the needs of food, dairy, and beverage plants—becoming the supplier of choice in all 50 states, as well as many foreign countries.

Nelson-Jameson has played an important role in supporting the dairy, food, and beverage industries for the past 74 years. From sourcing over 50,000 products to developing over 10 different food safety programs to expanding to six different locations, we’ve brought a lot of success with us through these years, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. Your safe, quality food is our business!

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Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy: Bringing Together People with Resources and Education

Nelson-Jameson strives to not only be a resource of products, programs, services, and industry expertise, but to also be of service to the food industry and focus on the mutually shared goal of food safety and quality. This allows us to work with a whole host of professional organizations, academic programs, regulatory agencies, etc. Over the past several months, we have enjoyed engaging and becoming active with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy Food Safety Team. You may or may not be familiar with this volunteer organization, and even if you are, you may be surprised by the remarkable scope of resources available…   

The Innovation Center for US Dairy is a consortium of dairy industry producers, educators, and organizations that gather to align “pre-competitive priorities, drive progress and speak with one voice.” In terms of what Nelson-Jameson does on a daily basis, the Center’s food safety programs/materials have been especially beneficial as a welcome food safety resource. Their approach to their Food Safety Committee is based on four core strategies:

  1. Industrywide sharing of best practices to drive continuous improvement.
  2. Disseminate best practices via training, tools, and guidance documents.
  3. Support artisan, farmstead, and small dairy manufacturers.
  4. Identify new solutions through research.

This involves numerous industry stakeholders aligned into several key areas: the Innovation Center Committee, the Artisan Cheese Advisory Team, the Artisan Ice Cream Advisory Team, and a targeted Listeria Research Consortium. Along with pushing best practices and research forward, the Innovation Center heavily focuses on sharing information and resources for use by all industry stakeholders focused on each of these areas.      

If you browse through the  Innovation Center website, you will find an array of workshops, webinars, Spanish-language tools, etc. in areas as diverse as sustainability, animal care, nutrition, food safety, and community relations. Whatever portion of the dairy industry you fall into (and even for those outside of the industry interested in topics like food safety), exploring the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy will provide you a tremendous resource to assist with the process of making safe, quality food.   

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