Our Customer Innovation team collaborated with two Chinese dairy companies to meet the growing demand for processed cheese. The collaboration resulted in Akoroma NH38, a customized vegetable-based pizza topping.
Western-style foods have become common in China and more and more cheese products, appealing to especially young consumers, appear on the market, for example pizza, cheese fondue, cheese cake, and cheese-flavored ice cream.
Growing demand for processed cheese
The amount of imported cheese is growing every year, and the import volume in 2014 doubled compared to 2012 with the foodservice industry covering more than 80 percent. Processed cheese is also growing in popularity and is widely used by pizza chains. Consequently, AAK China was contacted by two local dairy companies who both wanted to produce a vegetable-based pizza topping.
An innovation for the Chinese market
Our Customer Innovation team initiated the two projects with the ambition to create a fat blend adapted to Chinese taste and mouthfeel preferences. Several prototypes were created and tested and the samples were evaluated in close cooperation with the customers.
Akoroma NH38 does the work
After continuous improvements, our new solution was approved by both customers and launched as Akoroma NH38. The solution, with the color, milk flavor, and sensory experience of dairy fat-based cheese, was developed based on the traditional process of cheese which means no need for adjustments or changes to any of the existing steps in the production.
—Li Bao, Commercial Leader Dairy and Infant Nutrition, AAK China
