Chr. Hansen A/s

Mette Pia Junge

Kim Ib Soerensen

Eric Johansen

Mirjana Curic-Bawden

Gaelle Lettier Buchhorn

The dairy industry today faces a problem of providing an alternative to adding sweeteners to fermented milk products in order to achieve the desired sweet taste without the added calories. Furthermore, it would be highly advantageous to establish a method for reducing lactose in fermented milk products to a level which is acceptable for lactose-intolerant consumers. The above problems have been solved by providing mutantstrains and mutantsubsp.strains that excrete glucose to the milk when the milk is inoculated and fermented with suchstrains andsubsp,strains. Thus, the present invention relates to strains ofandsubsp,which secrete glucose to the milk substrate during fermentation, as well as to mixed cultures comprising thestrains and thesubsp,strains, starter cultures comprising the strains and dairy products manufactured with the cultures. The present method also relates to use of the strains for decreasing the lactose content of a fermented food product and for boosting growth of the probiotic BB-12®.

Use of lactic acid bacteria for preparing fermented food products with increased natural sweetness

The present invention relates to astrain, wherein the strain is galactose-fermenting, wherein the strain carries a mutation in the DNA sequence of the glcK gene encoding a glucokinase protein, wherein the mutation inactivates the glucokinase protein or has a negative effect on expression of the gene, and wherein the strain carries a mutation in the promoter region of the GalK gene encoding a galactokinase protein.

Lactic acid bacteria for preparing fermented food products with increased natural sweetness and high texture

Described are mutantstrains and mutantsubsp.strains that excrete glucose into milk when the milk is inoculated and fermented with such strains. Methods for obtaining such strains without genetic modification are described, including methods for obtaining suchstrains by selecting and isolating from a pool ofstrains derived from a galactose-fermentingmother strain a pool ofstrains which are resistant to 2-deoxyglucose, and selecting and isolating from the pool ofstrains which are resistant to 2-deoxyglucose astrain which exhibits a growth rate in M17 medium+2% galactose higher than its growth rate in M17 medium+2% glucose. The strains are useful for decreasing the lactose content of a fermented food product and for boosting growth of the probiotic BB-12&#xae;.

The dairy industry today faces a problem of providing an alternative to adding sweeteners to fermented milk products in order to achieve the desired sweet taste without the added calories. Furthermore, it would be highly advantageous to establish a method for reducing lactose in fermented milk products to a level which is acceptable for lactose-intolerant consumers. The above problems have been solved by providing mutantstrains and mutantsubsp.strains that excrete glucose to the milk when the milk is inoculated and fermented with suchstrains andsubsp,strains. Thus, the present invention relates to strains ofandsubsp,which secrete glucose to the milk substrate during fermentation, as well as to mixed cultures comprising thestrains and thesubsp,strains, starter cultures comprising the strains and dairy products manufactured with the cultures. The present method also relates to use of the strains for decreasing the lactose content of a fermented food product and for boosting growth of the probiotic BB-12&#xae;.

Growing community of inventors

Hilleroed, Denmark

Mette Pia Junge