Chr. Hansen Launches Preservative-Free Animal Rennet Products

MILWAUKEE—As consumers continuously ask for the removal of all unnecessary preservatives from foods, Chr. Hansen upgraded its NATUREN^® animal rennet portfolio with new product offerings.

Chr. Hansen offers a range of cheese coagulants, which include traditional NATUREN® animal rennet, microbial coagulants such as those named HANNILASE^®, first generation FPC CHY-MAX^®, and the most modern second generation FPC CHY-MAX®.

“With this upgrade, we would like to help our customers meet consumers’ requests for removing all preservatives from cheese," said Michael Fooken Jensen, global marketing manager, cheese, Chr. Hansen. “The new NATUREN^® animal rennet range has been designed to match the latest consumer trends in the most traditional cheese market segment, and we have improved our product offering to match the needs of all animal rennet users."

All products are available in liquid and powder form, and in a non-Benzoate version. Items containing benzoate are still available in the new NATUREN^® animal rennet range, and will mainly be used to reach customers located in areas where a refrigerated distribution chain is not available.

Special NATUREN^® items, such as halal-certified and lamb rennet, are also available upon request.

The new range includes products with no benzoate added, together with a rich variety of different concentration (strength), composition (chymosin and pepsin ratios) and packaging sizes.

In the last decades, the use of animal rennet has declined as more and more cheese producers have converted to fermentation produced chymosin (FPC) coagulants, such as CHY-MAX M^® coagulants, but about 20 percent of the world’s cheese is still produced with traditional animal rennet.

Over the coming years, volumes are expected to stay relatively stable as a big part of this segment is driven by Italian DOP cheeses, like Parmigiano Reggiano, and French AOC cheeses like Comté, where the use of animal rennet is legally required.

The NATUREN^® animal rennet range is produced at Chr. Hansen’s plant in Graasten, Denmark, which has been accredited with several quality certifications.

According to Klaus Damgaard, production manager, Chr. Hansen, the NATUREN^® non-Benzoate products are completely safe if stored and transported according to the recommended conditions.

Animal rennet has been used in cheese making since the first cheese was produced. Chr. Hansen has a very long history as an animal rennet producer, having sold the first standardized NATUREN^® product in 1874.