Microbial Innovations
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More than half of Valio's products including e.g. yoghurts, fermented milks and cheeses are manufactured by fermentation using microbes. The flavour of high quality Valio Emmental cheese results from the use of special starter cultures in Valio plants. Microbes are also employed for example in all Gefilus® products (juices, daily dose drinks, yoghurts and cheeses), whose functional ingredient is the probiotic LGG® lactic acid bacteria.
Valio engages in microbiological research e.g. to identify lactic acid bacteria strains that can be used to improve the quality of existing products. The taste of cheese, for example, can be affected by changing the microbes used in fermentation, which allows us to make tastier low fat cheeses. Valio quark can be produced with no additives using the appropriate protective starter. Microbial research also yields genuinely new innovations. Good examples in addition to probiotic lactic acid bacteria include Valio Evolus® products proven to lower blood pressure and promote vascular health.
Microbiological research embraces genetic knowledge of lactic acid bacteria. Precision state of the art identification of bacteria requires the deployment of molecular biology. This is extremely important not only for production hygiene monitoring, but also in new product development. Methods based on DNA and RNA enable e.g. the identification of a probiotic bacterial strain from a large mass of intestinal microbes. Sequencing the genomes of probiotic strains is expected to open up new avenues to find and direct their health effects.
Microbe identification and production require microbiological expertise. Valio's microbiological research works hand in hand with in-house starter production to develop production processes and continuously improve e.g. the microbiological products supplied to Valio's licensing partners. Collaboration between research and starter production also promotes the development of new starters and continuous improvement maintains the high quality of Valio products.
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Examination of pulsed field gel electrophoresis under UV light. The method can be used in identifying bacterial strains.
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