Let's Keep Plant-Based Dairy Fresh 

As plant-based alternatives continue to grow in popularity and consumer reach, maintaining freshness and shelf-life has become an important consideration throughout the supply chain. Consumers prioritize clean-label ingredients that are transparent and easy to understand. Artificial, hard to pronounce preservatives just don’t meet these expectations. Chinova Bioworks has the natural solution to help maintain quality, freshness and shelf-life using the power of white button mushrooms.

Consumers expect plant-based dairy to meet all aspects of conventional dairy, especially when it comes to the taste and shelf-life. However, plant-based dairy alternatives are held to a higher standard, in that they need to be healthy, natural, and clean-label. With Chiber™ there is a significant opportunity for brands to get both a clean-label and improve product quality. 

Plant-based dairy alternatives have their own unique set of functional challenges when it comes to shelf-life. Chiber™ delivers a natural and effective food protection solution. It inhibits specific spoilage issues, such as visible mold, yeast and bacteria, which protects a product’s shelf-life. Chiber™ can be used in a broad range of categories including: cream cheese, soft and hard cheese, yogurt, butter, probiotic beverages, and many more. Additionally, it does not change the taste or appearance of any of our favorite food products. This fiber is vegan, non-GMO, Kosher, Halal and allergen-free. 

Chinova has been gaining a lot of traction within the plant-based dairy alternative category and has been working with brands globally. A pilot test was conducted with a brand whose product was a probiotic containing cashew yogurt. This brand was having major issues with visible mold and found that their yogurt product would get moldy consistently earlier than the shelf-life date and received customer complaints as a result. The brand had considered many options, but could not find a solution that would be clean-label, effective against spoilage, but also not harm the probiotic. 

The different species of mold that caused visible growth and impacted shelf-life were identified, and the probiotic counts were taken and compared to the control. The test was a success, and there was a 60% reduction of mold growth in the product at the end of shelf-life. Additionally, probiotic bacteria counts were the same level as the control with no Chiber™. Chinova’s Chiber™ solution does not only inhibit spoilage but also protects probiotic bacteria like lactobacillus and bifidobacteria. This proved that Chiber™ can be used in probiotic containing products with no negative impact on survival.

Chinova’s unique patent protected Chiber™ for plant-based dairy products is the first clean-label solution of its kind - that works both at inhibiting spoilage and protecting probiotic cultures.