The Finnish Engineering Award was given this year to a team that developed the production process of a lactose-free milk drink. The team members are D.Sc. (Tech) Matti Harju, Lic.Sc. (Tech) Olli Tossavainen, M.Sc. (Agr& For) Paavo Tykkyläinen, M.Sc. (Tech) Janne Sahlstein and M.Sc. (Tech) Harri Kallioinen.
The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers TEK and the Engineering Society in Finland TFiF granted them an award of 20,000 euros in Helsinki on 29 May.
The team made its process innovation in the product development unit of the Finnish milk processor Valio.
The team combined the complex dairy process of milk in a new way with the previously known chromatographic separation technology, modern enzyme technology and diverse membrane separation technology. The result is a completely lactose free, good tasting milk drink without any extra sweetness.
The product has become very popular among consumers both in Finnish and foreign markets despite the price being almost twice that of regular milk.
The development work took numerous person years and included risks as well. The chromatographic separation process, which was already being employed in sugar industry, is new to milk processing. Since milk does not withstand high temperatures the way sugar does, preventing the uncontrolled growth of bacteria was a demanding task. Also, faulty flavours are easily tasted in milk, so the taste had to be given great concern. In addition, the limit for products free of lactose (below 0.01%) is so low that measuring it required the development of a new reliable and reasonably priced analysing method.
Launching a technology-driven product that was previously unknown to consumers gave rise to hesitation at start, especially as according to EU legislation the product could not be marketed to consumers as lactose-free milk, but as a milk drink. The solution to this problem was found in the product’s look: the lactose-free milk drink was packaged in the same milk carton consumers were already familiar with.
A dream product for the lactose intolerant
The lactose-free milk drink has nevertheless fulfilled the needs of those who suffer from lactose intolerance (17% of Finnish adults) remarkably. Customer feedback has been very positive and sales are constantly growing. The lactose-free milk drink sales are expected to reach 75 million euros this year. The value of export is anticipated to be 14 million euros during this year. The main export market of lactose-free milk is Sweden and Swedes are estimated to buy Valio’s lactose-free milk drink for 12 million euros. Other export markets are Belgium, the Baltic countries and Russia.
Valio has patented the innovative process internationally and it has been licensed to several countries. At the moment, the lactose-free milk drink is produced with Valio technology in Spain, Switzerland and South Korea. The production is about to start in Mexico.
Valio Ltd received a golden award from the German Agricultural Society DLG at the Anuga Food Tech fair in Cologne in 2006.
The Finnish Engineering Award is granted annually to a person or team that has made a significant contribution to Finnish technological expertise. The award-winning engineering work shall be characterised by an element of creativity, originality, as well as by practical implementation of the idea or theory in question. When evaluating the awardees, their works’ commercial and economic aspects shall also be considered. The award was granted for the first time in 1981. |
