Emulsifiers are used by food makers to reduce the surface tension between two immiscible phases at their interface - such as two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid - allowing them to mix.
Propelled by consumer health concerns, food makers are under pressure to design tasty foodstuffs that cut back on the fat.
Palsgaard claims its latest emulsifier-stabiliser system "makes it possible to manufacture a chilled, quark based aerated dessert with 2.5 per cent fat, or even with no fat at all."
Palsgaard declined to comment to FoodNavigator.com on the cost of the product, although the firm emphasised in general its quality emulsifier portfolio does not belong to the "cheaper end of the scale".
On doses of between 2 and 2.3 per cent, the system is composed of beef gelatin, modified starch, mono- and di-glycerides, and sodium citrate.
For Europe, labelling of the new system that "maintains organoleptic characteristics similar to those of a standard high fat version" requires E1422, E471 and E331.
Recent figures from Frost & Sullivan reveal emulsifiers, along with fat replacers, are leading growth in the food additive industry: since 2001 the market value of emulsifiers rose by some 5.6 per cent.
Indeed, spurred by demand, last year Palsgaard poured €10 million into expanding its emulsifier facilities in Denmark.
Marking the first step in a three-phase plan, the Juelsminde-based maker of stabilisers and hydrocolloids added 5000m2 to its emulsifier factory to "improve and automise the packaging and warehouse facilities", as well as mounting a new spray cooling tower.
"The main issue is the cooling tower, which had been a real bottleneck for us, so now we will have a much better capacity,"Birger Brix, managing director of Palsgaard explained to FoodNavigator.com.
The firm's new emulsifier-stabiliser system for chilled, quark based aerated desserts will be introduced to the trade at the FIE exhibition in Paris at the end of November.