Opened in the Voronezh region
The Molvest company has launched the production of milk protein concentrate in the city of Kalach, Voronezh Region, the Ministry of Agriculture reports. The plant will annually produce 2.5 thousand tons of 85% milk protein concentrate, the ministry said, which the editors of sfera.fm got acquainted with – this should be enough to replace 25% of imported concentrate on the Russian market. 2 billion rubles were invested in the project.
At the moment, milk protein concentrate is fully supplied to Russia from abroad, the ministry noted. The Molvest plant was the first production of its kind in the country. The department explained that the plant’s products will be used for the manufacture of baby food, sports nutrition, cheeses, confectionery products and other food products.
According to open sources, milk protein concentrate is obtained by gradually separating milk into components more and more. To begin with, raw milk is divided into cream and skim milk. The skimmed milk is then further divided to obtain a lactose-reduced concentrate. Then the concentrate is passed through a membrane that will let lactose, water and some other components pass through, but will not let the protein through because of its large molecular size. Finally, the resulting residue is further evaporated to dry. Additionally, the concentrate can be thermally processed for better storage, but the concentrate processed at low temperatures retains more useful properties, experts say.
Milk protein concentrate can be used as a food additive to increase the protein content in a product, as a basis for milk nutrition, and also as a stabilizer in some products, such as meringues, mousses and cakes, soups and even sausages, experts explain.