Valio is a traditional dairy co-operative owned by Finnish dairy farmers and is well-known in its home base for regular dairy products, but the firm is now looking to establish its presence in Asian markets more prominently and believes that a lactose-free focus is the way to do so.
“We know that the demand for dairy in Asia is rapidly increasing despite the well-documented fact that many consumers here are actually lactose intolerant,” Valio Marketing Manager Meri Harmala told FoodNavigator-Asia at the recent Vitafoods Asia 2024 event in Bangkok, Thailand.
“This shows that consumer interest is getting stronger even despite the digestive discomfort, and the main reason for this is the taste profile of dairy – but the main issue many lactose-free dairy products face has been with getting the taste to remain comparable with regular dairy.
“This is because the profile tends to be affected by the traditional process of removing lactose from it - We have invented technology to make lactose-free milk that has an identical taste to regular fresh milk, which gives consumers all the taste benefits they desire without the digestive issues.”
In addition to meeting the needs of lactose intolerant consumers, Valio also sees lactose-free milk as a suitable avenue to provide protein to diabetic patients due to the lower sugar content.
“Lactose-free milk will of course have less sugar without the lactose, and also higher protein levels – so what we are doing here is providing a low GI option with less sugar and high protein, that still retains all the important nutrients and taste profile of milk,” she added.
“We see Asian markets as very important target geographies for us due to the enormous possibilities here, driven by the large population and very rapid developmental and economic changes.
“Consumer dietary habits here as well as a rising ageing population are all well in line with dairy as an important food, and we are first looking at Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as key markets.”
Asian advancement
That said, Harmala acknowledged that local awareness of lactose-free milk is still comparatively low in Asia, and more often than not it is linked with poor taste profiles.
“The important thing for us is to really promote that our lactose-free milk powders have better digestibility, higher protein, less sugar and similar taste and nutrition, as this is not generally well-known in this market,” she said.
“One thing we have going for us is that Nordic products generally have a good name and reputation here linked to pure nature and advanced technology, so the association here will be quite positive in that regard.
“However, we are still working to address the challenge of how different the market is here compared to the west, particularly when it comes to the pricing levels and consumer sensitivity to price – this is something we are still working to adjust to accordingly.”
