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KIWI SCIENTIST SHARES TOP DAIRY AWARD
Distinguished dairy scientist Dr Lawrie Creamer is
the first New Zealander to be awarded the International Dairy
Federation (IDF) Award for his contribution to the industry, at the
organisation’s annual conference in Melbourne this week.
Joint recipient of the award was Professor
Pierpaolo Resmini, from the Department of Food Science and
Technology at the State University of Milan.
Dr Creamer is Principal Research Scientist at Fonterra
Co-operative’s marketing and innovation division.
During a career of over 40 years, Dr Creamer and his science team
have led the way in research into the heat-induced changes to milk
and the aggregation of the proteins in whey.
Whey proteins, a byproduct of cheese or casein
manufacture, were once regarded as suitable only for animal feed,
but are now used in a range of food products.
Since being appointed Principal Research Scientist at the NZDRI
in1990, Dr Creamer has focused more on the structure of the major
whey protein, beta-lactoglobulin, and the effect on it of heat and
its ability to bind vitamins.
Dr Creamer says his later work reflects the
separation of protein science into the more practical studies on
cheese, milk protein products and milk powder, and the examination
of the more fundamental basis of the interactions between the milk
proteins that will drive development of value-add products with the
characteristics major dairy customers want.
Recent research, in collaboration with scientists
from Massey University’s Riddet Centre and Professors Lindsay Sawyer
and Paul Barlow at Edinburgh University, showed that at high
temperature the structure of beta-lactoglobulin changes, forming a
new protein, which reacts with other smaller milk proteins. This
reaction is the basis for the heat stability of milk powders and
slower coagulation of heated milks.
Another project is NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance
spectroscopy) studies of water molecules to increase understanding
of the effects of flow on the redistribution of components in
cheese-like substances in collaboration with Professor Paul
Callaghan at Victoria University’s McDiarmid Institute.
All three projects are partly funded by the Foundation for Research,
Science and Technology.
Fonterra Media Release, 22 November 2004 |
