When producing Cheddar and gouda, cheese makers add colour – traditionally annatto – to give the cheese the shade consumers expect. But this can colour the whey yellow, which is an issue because the food industry requires white whey.
That’s why Chr Hansen launched an alternative to annatto: WhiteWhey.
85–95% reduction
Chr Hansen’s industry product manager Natural Colors Division, Thomas Christensen, says: “By replacing annatto with the beta-carotene based WhiteWhey colours, cheese producers will experience an 85–95% reduction in colour transfer to the whey. The cheese will maintain the same delicious yellow to red shades as our new WhiteWhey colours offers a 1:1 colour match compared to annatto-based solutions.”
New laws in the EU and China outlaw annatto residue in whey for infant nutrition.