It used to be enough to have the ability to ultrafilter whey or milk into whey protein concentrates and isolates (WPC, WPI) or milk protein concentrates and isolates (MPC, MPI) with a protein range of 34-90%. These ingredients have provided good flavor, function, and nutrition to a wide range of products for decades. The co-products of their manufacture, milk and whey permeate, have been around in dry form for almost as long and have offered some unique benefits to food applications as well. If the standard ingredients have been working fine, you might ask why then do we need customized, value-added dairy ingredients, and what is considered value-added?
Often the need for better performance in an application that pushes the boundaries for usage level or heating conditions drives the need for customization and added value. The ever-higher protein levels desired in today’s food products are an example of that. Performance issues with existing ingredients often lead to the need for basic research. Dairy ingredient research, conducted by many graduate students at universities and dairy research centers across the U.S. and overseas, has been key in developing new dairy ingredients to meet that need. A large portion of the research done in the U.S. is funded by the U.S. dairy farmers through the dairy check-off program managed by Dairy Management Inc.
The following is a guest column from KJ Burrington, ADPI Vice President of Technical Development, published in the February 13, 2026 issue of Cheese Market News.
Whey protein ingredients were researched first because they were manufactured and readily available before the milk protein ingredients were commercialized in the U.S. One functional attribute that has always been a challenge for whey proteins is heat stability. This lack of heat stability was especially challenging in applications like infant formula. Because the U.S. market didn’t make demineralized whey for infant formula, they offered WPC80 as an option. A typical WPC80 won’t have the heat stability needed for a ready to drink infant formula that goes through a retort heating process. Research helped to develop different ways of improving heat stability so that now U.S. manufacturers have the ability to make a heat stable WPC80. One process that improves heat stability for whey proteins is microparticulation. Microparticulated whey protein with 34% protein was developed in the 1980’s as a fat mimetic. The microparticulated whey proteins of today typically contain 80% protein and they are used in protein enhanced foods that require good heat stability.
Another hurdle to using whey proteins surfaced in the early 2000’s when companies started thinking about adding WPI to high acid beverages like juices. In consumer tests participants complained that 5 grams of protein per 8 ounce serving made the drinks too astringent. We didn’t know what caused that astringency then and it was very difficult to mask it. This issue led to some research done at North Carolina State University (NCSU) to identify the cause of astringency in whey protein beverages. They also did sensory testing to measure levels of astringency in different protein drinks. Around the same time, one of the U.S. whey protein manufacturers came out with a pre-acidified WPI (pH 3.2) and promoted the fact that it was less astringent than using a regular WPI (pH 6.4) in a high protein, high acid drink. Twenty years later, the U.S. has many more manufacturers of this pre-acidified WPI, which everyone simply calls Clear Protein. Clear proteins have helped to improve the taste of high protein, clear beverages and even carbonated protein drinks at protein levels up to 30 grams of protein per serving.
Milk protein ingredients have also had their value-added modifications. When the U.S. started making MPC and MPI in the early 2000’s, food companies were accustomed to the good solubility and fast hydration of WPC and WPI. Milk proteins were very slow to hydrate and their solubility decreased with the age of the product. These differences caused a lot of issues with performance and especially heat stability, even though MPC and MPI are inherently more heat stable than whey proteins. These functional issues prompted more research to figure out why MPC and MPI had solubility and hydration issues that got worse with age. One of those research projects was done at South Dakota State University over 10 years ago. They developed a reduced calcium MPC that had better solubility, faster hydration, and was more heat stable than a regular MPC. The primary researcher later went on to work for one of the U.S. manufacturers of MPC and MPI and helped them to commercialize a reduced calcium MPC that is now widely used in the industry and is well designed for low acid, high protein beverages that are ultra-high temperature (UHT) processed.
Sometimes value-added can mean we discover something new about an ingredient that provides an added benefit, without having to change the composition or modify the functionality. Even ingredients like milk and whey permeate have their value-added attributes. Applications work done by the Center for Dairy Research (CDR) in 2000 identified that the salty flavor of whey permeate could be a limiting factor for its use in bakery products to enhance browning, flavor, and reduce cost. Ten years later, reducing sodium was a big focus for the food industry so CDR started doing more application work with whey permeate and NCSU did some research to identify what made whey permeate, milk permeate, and delactose permeate salty. All three ingredients contain sodium, but the high potassium content ended up being one of the major causes of the salty flavor. Milk permeate can also be considered value-added because the clean flavor and consistent content of sodium, potassium, and other minerals has made it ideal for a hydration drink that provides superior sports performance compared to other commercial sports drinks.
These are just a few examples of value-added dairy ingredients available today. We continue to discover nutritional benefits that are unique to dairy and we will continue to modify the functionality of dairy ingredients, especially proteins as we continue to pack more protein into foods.
