Sarah Engstrom is a Senior Scientist at Grande Custom Ingredients in Fond du Lac, where she focuses on food safety and ingredient innovation. She holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin, with research centred on clean-label preservatives and pathogen control in cheese. Engstrom joined Grande in 2022 as an R&D Manager before advancing to her current role in 2024. Prior to this, she led preservation research at Kerry’s Food Protection team and held microbiologist roles at the Food Research Institute, Kraft Heinz (Oscar Mayer) and Land O’Lakes
Through this article, Engstrom delves into scientific expertise and a customer-focused approach to drive innovative and regulatory-compliant dairy ingredient solutions that meet evolving market and consumer needs.
Nutritional and Functional Enhancements in Whey Proteins
Our business unit develops clean-label whey protein ingredients with unique functionalities using whey from Grande’s Italian-style cheesemaking process. Our ingredients are used across many segments (e.g. soups, sauces, dressings, baked goods, protein bars and protein beverages). Some of our initiatives include nutritional improvement (e.g. butter or cream replacement with whey protein concentrate, sodium reduction with reduced lactose whey, protein fortification with whey protein isolates or whey protein crisps), textural improvement, flavor enhancement, replacement of perishables with powdered solutions (e.g. yogurt powder, whey protein concentrate, and partial phosphate replacement in meat (with hydrolyzed whey protein). To prioritize innovation opportunities, we monitor regulatory changes that now or in the future affect our customers. We additionally work with our marketing, sales and applications team to receive customer feedback and keep a pulse on trends. It’s also important for us to understand technical feasibility for producing a new ingredient and we work closely with our technical services and operations teams for this.
It is ideal to co-develop an ingredient with your customer, as they can give immediate feedback on their metrics for success and can help provide confidence in selecting the right prototype to commercialize
Managing Microbial Interactions to Ensure Safety in Dairy Systems
Finished product safety can be particularly complicated in biotic systems, e.g. cheese or yogurt, where starter cultures contribute heavily to the safety of the finished product. This is because methods to control outgrowth of unwanted microorganisms (e.g. preservatives, acidification, temperature control) can also impede beneficial organisms. Additionally, certain microorganisms (e.g. mold) are capable of metabolizing acids present, reducing the acidity of a food product and making it more hospitable for pathogen growth (e.g. on the surface of a mold-ripened cheese). Challenges can also arise from combining food components into a commingled food (e.g. apples coated with caramel) whereby the individual food components do not present a food safety concern but the commingled food can. It is always paramount to take a holistic approach in evaluating a food system’s safety and evaluate over the entirety of the product’s shelf-life, particularly if the parameters driving food safety (e.g. pH, water activity) are not static.
Bridging Compliance and Efficiency for Smarter Product Development
It is paramount to evaluate regulatory risks (e.g. intended labelling, use of processing aids, novel foods or GRAS status) upfront of major product development, as these can be project killers. Ease of ingredient manufacture at the plant level should be taken into consideration early. It is ideal to co-develop an ingredient with your customer, as they can give immediate feedback on their metrics for success and can help provide confidence in selecting the right prototype to commercialize. Working with customers can additionally uncover new validation and testing methods for both parties.
Protein Innovation Meets Evolving Consumer Trends
Current trends include getting protein fortified into smaller serving sizes (e.g. for dressings or sauces), delivering protein in different formats and textures (e.g. in whey protein crisps, cottage cheese) and achieving higher protein levels. Yogurt continues to carry a health halo and protein levels within yogurt and yogurt products have continued to climb. Surprisingly, higher-fat dairy products and ingredients have seen continued interest by consumers. Further health benefits of dairy beyond protein and calcium are currently being explored, e.g. milk fat globule membrane’s polar lipids for their impact on cognition.
Cultivating Curiosity and Mentorship for Early-Career Growth
I would encourage early-career food scientists to keep an open mind, be nimble and be a sponge for learning. I’d recommend to establish a strong technical base through early hands-on experiences in the lab and try to apply your skillset to troubleshooting or sales support. Your data should be getting plenty of mileage for your company at the level of making or selling their product. Find a few great mentors along the way—the easiest way to do this is to find someone whose career you like and go work for them or ask to collaborate. Understand that you will need to do work that you don’t enjoy and try to stay positive through it. Sometimes it is easier to define what you don’t like about a job or a department versus what you like and this information is just as valuable for shaping your career.
