Dairy and beyond at Fi Europe 2025

Innovation takes center stage this December as Fi Europe, the world’s largest ingredient show, returns to Paris, France.

From cutting-edge dairy solutions to plant-based breakthroughs and functional formulations, leading companies will unveil game-changing concepts set to redefine texture, nutrition, and sustainability in food and beverage. We round-up some of the expected highlights below.

Ajinomoto Foods Europe will present an ingredient that improves texture, firmness, stretch and sliceability of semi-hard plant-based cheeses. The ingredient is a blend of three enzymes and brings benefits for both cold and hot cooking applications by enhancing meltability and stretch in plant-based cheese. The company has been shortlisted for an Innovation Award (see box-out at the bottom of this article).

Arla Foods Ingredients, the ingredient arm of Arla Foods, will showcase how its portfolio of milk and whey protein can be leveraged across five applications: a high-protein, transparent yogurt; a drinking yogurt with hydrolyzed whey protein, offering 25g of protein per serving; a carbonated, flavoured, milk-like drink made with pure whey protein; a gluten-free high-protein (27%) cookie, and a high-protein (25%) brownie. A squeezable cheese, a drinking yogurt and a kids’ UHT drink featuring Arla Foods Ingredients’ milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) will also be highlighted, along with a snack bar concept and protein waters for holistic hydration.

Darling Ingredients’ health brand Rousselot will showcase of its collagen and gelatin-based solutions designed to enhance the nutritional profiles of food and beverage products by reducing sugar, increasing protein or enabling clean label formulations. Several ingredients will be highlighted including the brand’s latest peptide innovation that naturally stimulates the release of GLP-1 and GIP. Concepts presented on stand will include mocktails, coffee, crackers, functional gummies and a low-sugar, high-fiber snack bar fortified with collagen protein.

EPI Ingredients will showcase its powdered products designed for clean-label applications. Acid casein and caseinates will be a particular highlight and their versatility will be a key talking point on stand, with the company set to discuss caseinates’ thickening, protein-enhancement and water-retention properties. The company will also highlight its expertise in yogurt, kefir and fermented milk powders as well as butter powders, which can find applications across bakery and pastry making, dairy, ready meals, sauces, and more.

FrieslandCampina Ingredients, a division of FrieslandCampina, will demonstrate its proteins and prebiotics portfolio across a range of applications such as bars, shakes and yogurts designed for every life stage. The company will highlight how to take yogurt from simple snack to functional favourite with four concepts that add benefits for muscle, brain and gut health. The team will also demonstrate how caseinates can be a versatile protein ingredient in coffee drinks and how the company’s blend of whey, protein and prebiotic GOS fermented with probiotic cultures can be used in functional shakes to support digestion and post-exercise recovery.

Lactalis Ingredients, part of global dairy major Lactalis, will showcase its portfolio of dairy proteins, milk and whey powders, including a new high-protein bar concept designed for sports and active nutrition sectors. What’s unique about this is that traditional caseinates are being replaced with a rennet and acid casein-based formulation which enhances taste and texture according to the company. With whopping 33% protein content, the protein bar concept is less bitter, stays fresh longer, and has a satiety-supporting effect, leading to reduced snacking and improved craving control. The acid and rennet casein is also suitable for clean-label applications.

Another Innovation Awards finalists, The Time Travelling Milkman is presenting a plant-based dairy fat solution that aims to be a like-for-like replacement for milk fats. The ingredient behind the innovation is derived from oleosomes, natural droplets found in sunflower seeds, and is suitable for high-hear, low-acidity and fermentation applications. It is said to be superior to existing plant-based creamers through better texture, mouthfeel, and a fat structure that mimics dairy.

A collaboration between SkyrBiotics and SynBalance that can improve the understanding of what ‘live and active cultures’ really means is arriving at Fi Europe after debuting at SupplySide Global in October.

Part ingredient solution, part consumer platform designed to bring transparency around the real meaning of ‘live and active cultures’ in dairy, the solution “offers a targeted approach that integrates carefully-selected and validated biotic solutions, transforming conventional dairy products into high-value functional foods,” say the companies.

For producers, this means access to scientific know-how, the opportunity to differentiate, and a credible way to communicate value and information to customers. For consumers, it means clear recognition, quality assurance, and documented benefits identified by an on-pack logo.

All this is needed because despite the widespread use of the label ‘live and active cultures’, many products do not contain well-defined strains in research-validated quantities supported by scientific evidence. As a result, the benefits delivered do not always match consumers’ expectations.