The New Zealand dairy cooperative said that a niche segment of manufacturers in the region prefer white butter as a processing ingredient for their food products.
These Middle Eastern food manufacturers have traditionally sourced butter from grain fed cows, which produce dairy products with a pale color.
Fonterra’s Dairy Foods Category director of NZMP, Casey Thomas, said Fonterra developed the ingredient through a manufacturing process where they are now able to reduce the golden appearance of the butter.
Thomas said that while Fonterra’s yellow butter already sees success in the market, there was an opportunity to tap into this new area for customers to use in a variety of applications such as spreadable jar cheese, recombined cream cheese, and potentially in ice cream.
The product is available in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bahrain, Turkey and Pakistan. Future plans include launching the product in Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and even South America.