Product innovation

As an increasing number of new foods vie for space on supermarket shelves, Dairy Farmers of America, Inc.’s Innovation Center is at the helm, providing DFA with the opportunity to compete in today’s global marketplace by developing innovative dairy products and improving existing ones.

The Center (previously known as the DFA Technology Center) is located in Springfield, Mo., and houses a team of 12 scientists who average 35 to 50 new products and formulas each year. One of the center’s most successful product developments includes Borden® Singles Sensations, which significantly outperforms its competition, according to grocery store data.

Before products are developed, DFA’s marketing team talks with consumers about gaps in the industry and products they would be interested in purchasing. Consumer suggestions are then presented to the innovation team for product development.

“Our No. 1 goal for members and retailers is to find ways to grow our categories, which ultimately increases milk consumption,” says Ted Sowle, director of marketing for DFA’s Global Dairy Products Group. “We are always looking for new ideas where projects utilize additional milk in other value-added ways, whether that’s in a new flavor of cheese or butter, a beverage that isn’t on the market yet, or a new category altogether such as a dairy-based sandwich spread. By talking with consumers and testing products that meet their needs, they give us important feedback we then take to the Innovation Center.”

The process of creating a DFA product starts with an initial concept, from which one of the DFA scientists creates a prototype. During development, the team also considers similar concepts from other industry sources, ingredient and equipment manufacturers, competitive products and new ingredient trends in the industry. Product development begins in the lab and quickly moves into the Innovation Center’s pilot production plant, which was designed to mimic DFA’s manufacturing plant equipment and processes.

“Our pilot plant gives us a huge cost-saving advantage, as it prevents interruption at our regular manufacturing plants,” says Craig Schroeder, PhD, senior director of innovation. “We can make adjustments to formulas, fine tune processes on our equipment and workout all the kinks before we take a product to full production scale.”

Prototypes developed in the pilot plant are then evaluated by the DFA marketing team, or by a specific DFA customer if it is a custom product, and can be modified in the pilot plant several times to meet specific requirements.

The center also houses a sensory testing lab, which is used during the product development process for consumer testing to help in making adjustments to a product. Using sensory characteristics like flavor intensity, texture, meltability and mouth feel, the innovation team evaluates the difference between their newly developed formulas versus competitive samples. Sensory panelists also supply feedback on what they like or dislike on a particular product. The sensory team recently instituted a new testing process called descriptive analysis, in which trained panelists flavor products for specific product’s attributes like saltiness, sweetness, sourness or bitterness. Rated sample attributes are then charted versus a target or control sample to see exactly how closely the products overlap.

The lab is also equipped with special lighting that virtually eliminates color, turning everything in the room different shades of gray.

“For some people, even flavor or mouth feel decisions can be affected by variations in product color,” Schroeder says. “During testing, our primary objective is to lock into the targeted flavor or texture. Color is typically one of the last things we look at.”

When a prototype is ready for testing, DFA’s marketing team holds a consumer taste test, either in a group of about eight consumers at a time, or individually, depending on the objective of the research. According to Sowle, the team averages 15 to 20 consumer taste tests each year. During testing, the marketing team looks for feedback on flavor, texture and how the formula fits the product concept and then shares the findings with the innovation team.

Once the final formulation is agreed upon, the prototype undergoes microbiology and shelf-life testing to adhere to food safety parameters, which can take anywhere from weeks to a year or more depending on the product’s complexity.

“There is an extensive amount of research and work that goes on behind the scenes for each product,” Schroeder says. “Scientists need time to bring every product, ingredient and test result up to DFA standards prior to commercialization.”

In the latter stages of prototype development, the innovation team provides the marketing team and DFA’s manufacturing facilities with final formulas, manufacturing information that describes how to combine ingredients and process them into the final formula, and nutrition and labeling instructions.

DFA’s marketing team is currently focused on adding new cheese, butter and yogurt volumes, including Greek-style yogurt products, in 2012. Recently, DFA launched Plugrá’s new European Style Flavored Butters, which according to Schroeder, took more than a year to create partly because of the six-month shelf-life testing.

“There were several rounds of flavor changes and adjustments, as well as consumer testing by the marketing team,” Schroeder says. “When we are working on an entirely new product for the organization, we have been known to take a year or two because we need to make sure the product meets consumer’s expectations prior to launch.”

The innovation team currently has several new products in the pipeline, including a new Singles Sensations flavor, a flavored butter spread and more than 10 new beverage flavors.

“It’s always our goal to try and find a gap in the marketplace that hasn’t been captured yet,” Schroeder says. “There’s never a day that we aren’t looking for new opportunities for DFA for product development and innovation. By developing new products and improving existing ones, we are providing value to dairy ingredients and added return to our members.”