Milk Specialties Begins North Americas Casein Production

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.On March 6, Milk Specialties Global began production of casein at its Norfolk, Neb., facility. The company expects its initial production to be in excess of 5 million pounds annually.

The United States is the major world market for casein consumption, yet is entirely dependent on import for this commodity. Categories seeing major growth include ready-to-drink (RTD) nutritional beverages, sports nutrition powders, protein bars, yogurts, processed cheeses and chocolates and candy baking goods, coffee creamers, spreads, ice creams, frozen desserts, soups and gravies.

Casein proteins are the major portion of milk proteins. Caseins are known for sustained release and satiety enhancing properties. With growth in casein awareness and demand of milk proteins, we are producing caseins, caseinates, native micellar caseins and low-grit micellar caseins. Additionally, our caseins are customizable to sodium caseinate or calcium caseinate," said Suvash Kafley, director of research & development.

He added the companys caseins are produced by using membrane filtration to isolate casein, from milk, in its native state. Traditional processing methods use acid to drop the pH of milk and precipitate it out. This precipitated casein is washed and decanted to yield what is known as acid casein. This method denatures the casein structure and strips out the naturally occurring minerals that are found in milk.

Milk Specialties Global CEO David Lenzmeier said: The process is cleaner and we are really excited about it. Dual-step membrane filtration isolates the casein protein to the functional level that caseinates are desired for, while producing a better quality, intact protein. You can taste the difference; our native micellar casein has a nice, clean flavor. Were also thrilled to be able to add domestic casein to the U.S. marketplace for our customers."

On Feb. 14, Milk Specialties Global began production of milk protein concentrate at its newest location in Visalia, Calif.