Casein – caseinates
We are experts in the production of milk proteins in the form of caseinates and acid caseins.
Producer of milk proteins, casein and caseinate
We produce our caseinates from fresh skimmed milk. The manufacturing process involves :
- Separating milk proteins during a milk acidification step.
- Caseins in an acid medium will precipitate and form a curd. It’s the same principle as when we make cheese !
- Once the two phases have been separated, we can isolate the caseins from the whey.
- Caseins coming from our acid environment will be our acid caseins that we can either dry or send to our caseinate manufacturing process.
In fact, our acid caseins are completely insoluble. Therefore, in order to be able to express the functional properties of caseins, they must be transformed into caseinates.
From milk casein to caseinate
There are several ways to make caseinates :
- By spray drying,
- By drying,
- Using a roller,
- Using an extrusion process.
One specific feature of our caseinates is that they are produced by an extrusion process.
Caseinates are known for their numerous functional and nutritional qualities.
Caseinates can be used in food for :
- Their emulsifying, foaming, stabilising, thickening properties.
- Their soluble properties, used to manufacture dairy or nutritional drinks.
- Protein enrichment in products or in industrial processes to control the protein content, e.g. in cheese making.
The alkali used to manufacture our caseinates is also of interest because it can, depending on the case, add a nutritional benefit to the product, e.g. like for calcium caseinate.
Epi Ingredients offers the following products in this range:
