The Bel Group collaborated with 4 Wageningen University (NL) teams. The first collaboration’s aim was to investigate a vegan alternative for Babybel cheese that mimics the structure of dairy Babybel, and thus finding the best plant materials to create a visco-elastic network similar to cheese. The second challenge’s focus was introducing non-animal protein sources and innovative methods for achieving non-dairy cheese analogue with texture similar to that of BabyBel. The third collaboration carried out an investigation on the different dairy-based flavour formation pathways in the production process of regular Dutch-type cheese, and on which flavour compounds are most important for the creamy flavour. Finally, the fourth challenge’s goal was to find out how the flavour compounds in cheese can be formed in non-dairy chees made with plant-based material.
