A few years ago, food scientists developed a lab process for creating gelatinized whey protein concentrate. Now the technology is poised for commercial scale-up.
In 1999, the researchers—Heather M. Hudson, now a research scientist at Kraft Foods Inc.; and two faculty members of NC State’s Department of Food Science, Christopher R. Daubert and chemist E. Allen Foegeding—filed a patent application for a process to hydrolyze a protein preparation, then gel it, dry it and granulate it to produce a stable food ingredient.