Global Starter Culture Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Global Starter Culture Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Starter cultures are those microorganisms that are used in the production of cultured dairy products such as yogurt and cheese.

Market Overview:

The latest research study on the global Starter Culture market finds that the global Starter Culture market reached a value of USD 1457.91 million in 2022. It’s expected that the market will achieve USD 1981.82 million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.25% during the forecast period.

The intersection of two mega-trends

Fermented foods sit at the intersection of two mega-trends that are coming to define consumption patterns in Europe: the demand for ‘natural’ products that deliver added health benefits.
Because fermentation is a natural process it delivers on consumer expectation around ‘clean labeling’ and a desire to avoid synthetic additives and preservatives. According to a survey commissioned by specialist PR group Ingredient Communications last year, 73% of consumers said they are willing to pay a higher retail price for products made with ingredients they recognize and trust.
Fermentation also carries health-related benefits. Fermented foods contain necessary enzymes, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics and vitamin B. Across various categories-from ambient vegetables to health drinks and dairy products-fermented foods have come to be associated with positive digestive health.

The Use of Starter Cultures in Traditional Meat Products

Starter cultures or starters are individual or mixed formulations of selected strains with a particular enzymatic activity that when added in a defined concentration to a substrate transform it into a food product with specific characteristics. This concept applied to meat products could be described as viable microorganisms that are able to multiply themselves inside meat products, increasing their preservation, controlling their hygienic safety, and potentiating their acceptability by consumers, maintaining or improving their nutritional quality.
The preliminary use of starters in meat products resulted from adding a portion of the final meat products to their raw materials, meaning that part of the already fermented batch of sausage was thrown back into the new mix. This already fermented product contained the necessary microorganisms to start the fermentation of the new batch. This is known as back-slopping or back-inoculation.

Region Overview:

From 2022-2027, Europe is estimated to witness robust growth prospects.

Company Overview:

Chr. Hansen A/S is one of the major players operating in the Starter Culture market, holding a share of 32.33% in 2020.

Chr. Hansen A/S

Chr. Hansen A/S, Inc. manufactures dairy cultures and flavors, natural and artificial colors, enzymes, and probiotics for human health. It also offers silage inoculants and direct-fed microbial products for animal health.

Danisco/Dupont

Danisco A/S develops, produces, and markets food and beverage ingredients, enzymes and bio-based solutions. The Company offers pharmaceutical ingredients, alginate, antimicrobials, antioxidants, betaine, carrageenan, cellulose gum, colors, cultures, emulsifiers, enzymes, fibres, guar gum, locust bean gum, and medium-chain triglycerides.

Segmentation Overview:

By type, Fresh Dairy Culture segment accounted for the largest share of market in 2021.

Fresh Dairy Culture

Dairy starter cultures are microorganisms that are intentionally added to milk in order to create a desired outcome in the final product, most often through their growth and “fermentation” processes.

Cheese Culture

A Cheese Culture is a group of specific bacteria strains put together for making a specific cheese. Most Cheese Cultures work in similar way but are classified based on the temperature at which they work.

Yeasts and Moulds

Mold is a type of fungus that grows in multicellular filaments called hyphae. These tubular branches have multiple, genetically identical nuclei, yet form a single organism, known as a colony. In contrast, yeast is a type of fungus that grows as a single cell.

Bioprotective Culture

Bioprotective Cultures for enhanced safety of dairy products. The term “Protective Cultures” has been applied to microbial food cultures (MFC) exhibiting a metabolic activity contributing to inhibit or control the growth of undesired microorganisms in food.

Application Overview:

By application, the Fresh Dairy segment occupied the biggest share from 2017 to 2022.

Fresh Dairy

Fresh Dairy products includes, but is not limited to, buttermilk, skim milk, chocolate drink, ice cream, ice milk mix, sherbet, sour cream, sour cream dressing and cottage cheese, without regard to the class of fluid milk or fluid cream which is used to make those products.

Cheese

Cheese is a dairy product derived from milk that is produced in a wide range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep.

Plant-based Fermented Products

A type of fermentation based on plant. Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen.

Meat and Fish

A meat starter culture can be defined as viable microorganisms added directly to meat to improve the keeping quality, improve the safety, and/or enhance consumer acceptability of the meat product. In addition, the nutritional quality of the meat should be maintained or improved. The microorganisms (a) should be salt- and nitrite-tolerant (grow vigorously at 6% NaCl and 100 ppm nitrite), (b) must grow at a temperature range of 27 to 43°C (80 to 110°F) with the optimum at approximately 32°C (90°F), (c) must not produce compounds associated with off-odors, and (d) must not be harmful to health (be neither pathogens nor produce toxic compounds as part of their metabolism). If the starter culture is a lactic acid microorganism, it must be homofermentative since gas production and fermentation products other than lactic acid contribute to off-flavors and other defects.

Key Companies in the global Starter Culture market covered in Chapter 3:

Biovitis SA
Mediterranea Biotecnologie Srl
Lactina Ltd.
Agroscope
Vivolac Cultures Corporation
Alce Srl
Lallemand Specialty Cultures
Biochem Srl
CSK Food Enrichment B.V.
LB Bulgaricum
Bioprox
Sacco Srl
ABsource Biologics Pvt. Ltd.
Chr. Hansen A/S
Laboratoires Standa
Dalton Biotecnologie Srl
Biena Inc.
Danisco/Dupont
Royal DSM

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 14.2, on the basis of types, the Starter Culture market from 2018 to 2029 is primarily split into:

Fresh Dairy Culture
Cheese Culture
Yeasts and Moulds
Bioprotective Culture

In Chapter 5 and Chapter 14.3, on the basis of Downstream Industry, the Starter Culture market from 2018 to 2029 covers:

Fresh Dairy
Cheese
Plant-based Fermented Products
Meat and Fish

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2018-2029) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 8 to Chapter 14:

North America (United States, Canada)
Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden)
Asia Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia)
Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina)
Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa)