Microbiologists at Oregon State University have discovered a new thickener for dairy and food applications that could add probiotic characteristics to products in which it is used.
The thickener is now in commercial use and the researchers behind it believe that it could “have a significant impact in major industries”. The new product is produced by a natural bacterium that was isolated in Oregon, the result of decades’ worth of research. The polymer is known as Ropy 352 and produced by a non-disease causing bacterium.
Oregon State University microbiologist Janine Trempy said: “This is one of many naturally occurring, non-disease causing bacterial strains my research program isolated and studied for years. We discovered that this bacterium had a brand new, never-before reported grouping of genes that code for a unique polymer that naturally thickens milk. In basic research, we’ve also broadened our understanding of how and why non-disease causing bacteria produce polymers.
“There are actually very few new, non-disease causing bacterial strains that produce unique polymers with characteristics desirable and safe for food products. In the case of a dairy thickener, for instance, a bacterium such as Ropy 352 ferments the sugar in the milk and produces a substance that changes the milk’s properties.”
These are chemical processes driven by naturally occurring bacteria that, rather than causing disease in humans, could actually help to contribute to bodily health through their probiotic potential.
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