Arla Foods Ingredients have begun what it claims is the world’s first commercial production of a milk protein present in human milk.
Osteopontin (OPN) is extracted from bovine milk using a patented process, the firm said today (25 June).
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After several years of pilot production, Arla said the completion of process documentation has enabled it to step up to industrial-scale processing.
“The fact that there is so much more OPN in human milk than bovine milk provides a simple argument for adding it to infant formula. It can be used to make infant formula more like human milk in terms of nutritional profile,” said Peter Wejse, project manager.
OPN is a key component of human milk, which contains around 140mg a litre. The content of OPN in bovine milk, from which most infant formula is made, is 20mg.
“In extremely simple terms, what we do is take the needle out of the haystack without damaging the needle or the haystack,” Wejse added.
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By GlobalDataOPN is currently sold to infant nutrition manufacturers in Asia.
