The strains Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium lactis Bb 12, are used to ferment crushed flax to produce a gelatinous, yoghurt-like result.
Products such as spoonable and drinkable yoghurts would contain 100m colony forming units (CFUs) of the two well-researched immunity-boosting, probiotic bacteria strains and be able to market themselves on omega-3 ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) and fibre content inherent in flax (or linseed).
The process will be launched at the Vitafoods trade show in Geneva next week, and in advance of the show managing director, Ville Kauppinen, Elixi Oil Oy, told NutraIngredients.com patent applications had been lodged in “more than 30 countries”.
”We have spent three years working on this process and are now at the stage where we can license the process to food manuafcturers that want to produce these kind of products,” he said.
He said negotiations had begun with Swedish and Finnish dairies, with further meetings scheduled for Vitafoods.
”We don’t want to name who these companies at the moment but we are confident a milk-free yoghurt product using our process will be on the market by year’s end,” he said.
He said the process meant chilled products could have a shelf-life of more than three weeks.
”We have tested prototypes that have demonstrated this and also tested this at full-scale production.”
Products could claim to be not only milk-free, but gluten-free and cholesterol-free and would bear premium pricing as was the case for “most technological, healthy products.”