Fonterra recognised for innovation in paediatric nutrition

The team received the Innovation in Food and Beverage award at the recent The New Zealand Innovation Awards, which recognise top innovators in New Zealand business.

Fonterra Director Group Research and Development Dr Mark Malone said this success is due to the hard work of a number of different teams who have worked together to achieve a fantastic result.

Breast milk is the best source of nutrition for infants. However for mothers who cannot or choose not to breastfeed, the nutritional quality of milk formula is of utmost importance.

“Our work on complex milk lipids, which are packed with many of the minor components found in breast milk, has been all about providing an alternative making it more similar to the composition of breast milk.   

“We have applied these findings to maternal and paediatric nutrition products to deliver more nutritional benefits that may help to support growth and cognitive development. 

Many people across the innovation community have taken part in this long journey, and I’d like to thank them all for their passion and dedication, these projects are always challenging and lengthy,” said Dr Malone.  

He said this work highlights Fonterra’s strength in research and development and its ability to make the goodness of dairy readily accessible to consumers.
 It’s the fourth year in a row the Co-operative has picked up an innovation award, including recognition for its milk fingerprinting technology in the excellence in research category last year.

The milk lipids research has been supported by Transforming the Dairy Value Chain – a Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme between the Ministry of Primary Industries, Fonterra and DairyNZ that aims to create new products, increase on-farm productivity, reduce environmental impacts and improve agricultural education.