At Marubishi Malaysia, we are committed to providing high-quality ingredients that help local bakeries, pastry shops, and food manufacturers elevate their creations.
Through our strong partnership with Lacto Asia, we bring premium dairy ingredients and innovative cheese solutions to the market, helping our customers create products with exceptional taste, texture, and quality.
We recently sat down with Lacto Asia's Sales Manager, Mr. Tsubasa Honda, to get an insight into their global operations, their innovations like the much loved Heat-Stable Cheese, and their vision for the rapidly evolving Southeast Asian market.
Who is Lacto Asia?
Lacto Asia is a Singapore-based manufacturer and distributor of cheese products, managing the entire value chain, from raw material sourcing, importing, processing, to product development, and sales. One of Lacto Asia's key strength lies in the strong foundation provided by its parent company, Lacto Japan, a prominent leader in the dairy trading industry.
Leveraging on Lacto Japan’s extensive international network, Lacto Asia has access to high-quality dairy raw materials from suppliers across Europe, Oceania, North America, and other major dairy-producing regions, ensuring a stable and reliable supply for its customers.
Beyond supplying cheese ingredients, Lacto Asia is committed to delivering value-added solutions that address the unique needs of each customer, offering customized solutions such as functional diced cheese, cheese sauces, shredded cheese designed to enhance product performance and consumer appeal.
Why Singapore Became Lacto Asia’s Regional Hub
The decision to establish Lacto Asia’s regional hub and manufacturing facility in Singapore was driven by the country’s strategic advantages as a gateway to the Asian market, particularly for the following reasons:
- Prime Location: Positioned right in the heart of Southeast Asia, it allows them to serve the region efficiently and respond incredibly fast to market demands while remaining close to key markets such as Malaysia.
- Gold-Standard Infrastructure: Singapore offers world-class logistics, a skilled workforce, and a highly business-friendly environment.
- Uncompromised Food Safety: Singapore's strict food regulations and international reputation for quality assurance give customers complete confidence in the safety and consistency of every product.
Being based in Singapore allows Lacto Asia to perfectly bridge its global sourcing network with the fast-growing Asian market.
Uncompromising Food Safety and Quality
At Lacto Asia, food safety and quality assurance are core to their daily operations. They ensure every batch of cheese is safe, consistent, and reliable through a multi-layered framework:
- FSSC 22000 Certified: Their manufacturing facility operates under this internationally recognized food safety management system, covering everything from raw materials to final delivery.
- Rigorous Multi-Stage Inspections: Quality control checks are conducted at every step, including incoming raw material inspections, in-process monitoring, and finished product evaluations.
- Third-Party Verification: Beyond internal testing, Lacto Asia regularly partners with accredited independent laboratories to run advanced quality and safety tests.
- Strict GMP Programs: Their daily food safety culture is reinforced by robust Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), including strict sanitation SOPs, pristine pest control, and a strict FIFO (First-In, First-Out) warehouse inventory system.
By combining global certifications with strict everyday practices, Lacto Asia is able to consistently deliver safe, reliable, and high-quality products.
Transforming Challenges into Innovation: The Heat Stable Cheese Story
Innovation at Lacto has always been driven by understanding customers' needs. The development of the company’s proprietary Heat Stable Cheese is a prime example of how listening to industry challenges can lead to breakthrough solutions.
- The Problem: Food manufacturers have always struggled with conventional cheese melting completely away during high-temperature baking or cooking. The final product then loses its visual appeal, and consumers are often left disappointed by the lack of distinct cheese texture.
- The Solution: To fix this, Lacto leveraged its Japanese formulation expertise combined with proprietary processing technology to develop Heat Stable Cheese - a cheese that holds its shape, presence, and distinct texture even after intense heat processing.
Such success stories reinforce the value of customer-driven innovation and inspire Lacto to continue developing advanced cheese solutions that support the evolving needs of the food industry.
Emerging Cheese Trends Across Southeast Asia
The demand for cheese is growing rapidly across Asia, particularly for processed cheese within the foodservice and manufacturing sectors.
Here is how the landscape is changing:
- Beyond Just Pizza: Cheese is no longer used just for pizza. It has broken out into exciting new categories, including bakery items, snacks, desserts, and even trendy beverages.
- Evolving Consumer Tastes: Consumers want it all. While affordability matters, they are increasingly seeking authentic cheese flavors, premium dairy quality, and functional convenience.
- The Cost-vs-Quality Challenge: Rising production costs remain a massive hurdle for local food manufacturers. The biggest challenge today is balancing great quality with competitive pricing.
To solve this, Lacto Asia uses its global sourcing network to create customized, cost-effective cheese solutions. They help businesses hit that perfect sweet spot between premium functionality and smart cost management.
What’s Next? Exciting New Products to Watch For!
Lacto Asia is constantly eyeing global food trends coming out of Japan, Korea, China, and Singapore to bring fresh concepts to the Malaysian market. Some of their most anticipated products include:
- Liquid Cheese Varieties: Specifically engineered for trendy applications like Chikuro, hot snack fillings, and dipping sauces.
- Premium Hokkaido Range: Including Hokkaido Milk Powder and Hokkaido Processed Cream Cheese, perfect for premium, Japanese-style desserts and bakery concepts.
By the end of this year, Lacto Asia will open a brand-new factory in Singapore. This expansion will double their current production capacity, allowing them to develop even more advanced, functional dairy solutions customized to meet customer needs.
Marubishi Malaysia & Lacto Asia Partnership
At Marubishi Malaysia, we take great pride in our role as Lacto Asia's trusted distributor. Here are the words of Honda-san on how they view us as their partner:
Marubishi Malaysia has been a reliable and supportive business partner in the bakery industry. They have strong market knowledge, good customer connections, and actively promote our cheese products to bakery customers in Malaysia.
We appreciate their effort in developing new applications together with customers, especially in Japanese-style bakery concepts and innovative cheese products. Their team is also responsive in market feedback sharing, which helps us improve product development and better understand customer needs.
In addition, Marubishi Malaysia has shown commitment in growing the business together with us through continuous communication, forecasting support, and collaboration on new projects. We value this long-term partnership and hope to continue strengthening our cooperation in the future.
Building the Future as a Leading Dairy Solutions Partner
Lacto Asia’s long-term vision is to move far beyond being just a distributor or trader of dairy products. Their goal is to become Asia’s premier dairy solutions partner.
By continuously investing in their manufacturing capabilities, product development, and value-added services, they seamlessly connect a global network of premium dairy resources with the fast-evolving needs of the Asian market.
Together, Marubishi Malaysia and Lacto Asia look forward to providing the inspiration, flexibility, and exceptional quality your business needs to thrive.
Interested in trying Lacto Asia’s Heat Stable Cheese, or for first dibs into their upcoming Liquid Cheese, or Hokkaido range for your business? Contact us here.