These products are on our markets, but mostly imported. Companies producing it in Russia operate under foreign brands. Companies producing products with reduced allergenicity depend on a special component – a hydrolyzate, without which its production is impossible. Hydrolysates are imported to Russia and Belarus mainly from France. But Western partners have already warned that supplies could be cut off because of the sanctions. Thousands of allergic children will be at risk.
But there is also good news: the Russian Baby Food Research Institute – a branch of the FGBUN “Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology” is developing its own technology for the production of hydrolysates and products with reduced allergenicity. The introduction of these technologies is also planned in Belarus, at the Volkovysk JSC “Bellakt” plant. It will also launch a hydrolysate production workshop. Last year, specialists from our countries developed the technology for obtaining a hydrolyzate using domestic enzymes, and active work is currently underway to develop a line of products with reduced allergenicity. For more details, SOYUZ journalists traveled to Istra, near Moscow, where the baby food research institute is located.
The composition of products for allergy sufferers includes a hydrolyzate, which is delivered from France
…For decades, this institute was the only scientific organization in the field of cross-industry baby food industry in Russia. It was here that the recipes for the popular Soviet dairy formulas Malyutka and Malysh were developed.
- We are witnessing a significant increase in allergic diseases, – says the director of the Infant Nutrition Research Institute Sergei Simonenko. – According to the Institute of Immunology of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia, one in three Russians is prone to allergies. And the number of children suffering from allergic diseases has more than tripled and a half in the last ten years. One of the most common is food allergy. Children are more likely to be allergic to cow’s milk protein. Of course, in most cases the disease is not life-threatening, but it can become a serious problem for the child and his parents. The clinical manifestations are varied: from skin rashes to severe gastrointestinal and systemic manifestations.
Russian and Belarusian scientists are convinced that the complete exclusion of dairy products from the diet of patients with food allergies, except for severe clinical cases, is highly undesirable. Dairy products are the most digestible sources of protein with a complete amino acid composition. It is necessary to develop a technology to obtain specialized dairy products with reduced allergenicity for infant nutrition based on milk protein hydrolysates. Today, the Russian market for specialized medical nutrition includes more than 90% of imports from foreign companies (Nestlé, Danone, Abbott, Hero, Brown and others), a small percentage of the total volume is occupied by Russian factories ( “Infaprim”, “Pharmalakt”) and Belarus (“Bellakt”). Medical institutions receive only 15% medical nutrition.
In case of intolerance to cow’s milk proteins, it is necessary to include in the diet special products, the technology of which allows their biological and physico-chemical modification. Today, much attention is paid to the creation of specialized preventive products using raw milk protein hydrolysates. So far, they are not produced on the scale of production either in Russia or Belarus.
We go to the laboratory, where the technology for obtaining hydrolysates has already been worked out and prototypes have been obtained. Elena Simonenko, head of the department of the Research Institute of Child Nutrition, shows us the result of an experiment on the restoration of domestic and imported dry hydrolysates.
Belarus has the necessary developments that will help Russian production
The component can be in several forms, we see an almost transparent liquid in the test tube.
- We have developed the technology to obtain hydrolysates directly from milk using six domestic enzymes.
Two enzymes were chosen for further research and production, hydrolysates were obtained in dry and condensed form, pilot tests were carried out at the Bellakt plant and comparative studies with imported analogues.
We got good scores. This year, allergenicity studies of the obtained hydrolysates will be carried out, including preclinical studies, – explained Elena Simonenko. – It is now a question of creating a complete cycle of production of products with reduced allergenicity. A workshop for the production of hydrolysates will be created at the Volkovysk OJSC “Bellakt” plant. In the future, they will manufacture products with reduced allergenicity from the hydrolysates obtained. A range is already under development, while it will be drinks for the diet of children over three years old allergic to milk proteins. In the near future, clinical trials will begin, followed by the release of finished products.
Belarus has the necessary developments and components for the food industry, baby food, which will help Russian production.
- Today, enzymes for the food industry are practically not produced, and areas of raw materials have been preserved in Belarus. I am convinced that we can solve the problems of import substitution only in cooperation with our colleagues from Belarus, stressed Elena Simonenko.
According to the scientist, this is not the first collaboration with Belarusian colleagues. An equally important development of hypoallergenic products is Bellakt PepGS, an adapted milk formula based on a complete whey protein hydrolyzate for therapeutic nutrition of young children, together with Volkovysk JSC “Bellakt”. The product has passed clinical trials in the clinical nutrition clinic of the federal state budgetary institution “Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology” and is recommended for use in the nutrition of young children and for a large-scale production at the enterprise.
- The development of dairy and other low allergenicity products with a preventive profile is a very relevant new direction in the field of improving the quality and safety of food products, and the relevance and prospects for the development of new dairy products Specialized for children allergic to milk proteins are beyond doubt, – I’m sure Elena Simonenko. – The number of children who need specialized low-allergenic foods is around 750,000, and this figure is increasing every year. Considering the number of children allergic to cow’s milk protein, the forecast market for dairy products with reduced protein allergens in Russia could be more than 200,000 tons per year.
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