Virginia Holsinger
Virginia Holsinger made healthier dairy products accessible worldwide. Her research on enzymes and digestion not only advanced the dairy industry but also created the foundation for Lactaid® brand products, making milk digestible by those with lactose intolerance.
Holsinger was born in Washington, D.C., in 1937. In 1958, she earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the College of William and Mary and began working as an analytical chemist for the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Dairy Products Laboratory in Washington.
In 1974, Holsinger accepted the role of research leader for the ARS Dairy Products Unit at the Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. She earned her doctorate in food science and nutrition from Ohio State University in 1980 and would continue her work at ARS until her retirement in 1999.
Around the time Holsinger took on her research leader role, ARS scientists were conducting research to create a digestible milk for lactose-intolerant individuals. Holsinger began evaluating lactase enzymes and comparing their properties and performance under different pH conditions. She determined that when fresh, pasteurized whole and skim milk were treated with a lactase enzyme that had been isolated from a yeast as a colorless, free-flowing powder, it broke down about 87% to 95% of lactose into digestible glucose and galactose, and the only change in flavor was an acceptable increase in sweetness.
After Holsinger’s results were published in October 1974, Alan Kligerman of SugarLo Co., which would later become Lactaid Inc., visited ARS to learn more. Understanding that lactose intolerance affected 30 million Americans at the time, he recognized the commercial potential of Holsinger’s work. For nearly a year, Kligerman worked with Holsinger and her team to explore the possibility of developing a product that would allow more people to enjoy dairy products without experiencing symptoms of lactose intolerance.
In 1976, SugarLo packaged Holsinger’s enzyme in a powdered form and brought it to market as “Lact-Aid.” This was followed by a sterile liquid form of lactase and made available in quantities large enough for commercial operations. Next came a fluid milk Lactaid product for consumers in 1979 and lactase capsules in 1984. The continued collaboration between ARS and SugarLo, an outstanding example of public-private partnership in the dairy industry, resulted in products that improved nutrition for many people across the U.S. and throughout the world.
Holsinger led her research team to develop a reduced-fat mozzarella cheese that was particularly suitable for use on pizza due to its appealing texture and melting properties. She contributed to the development of USDA Agricultural Marketing Service specifications, which resulted in the use of this improved cheese in the USDA’s National School Lunch Program.
In addition to helping provide healthier school lunches nationwide, Holsinger also improved food donations globally. She demonstrated that cheese whey-soy-flour formulations with added soybean oil and corn syrup solids could be spray dried with no change in rehydration properties. The resulting product was a stable, less expensive nonfat dry milk replacement product for international food donation programs. Holsinger also developed a grain blend that could be mixed with water to create a porridge for use in emergency situations like famines or droughts.
Another Holsinger innovation fulfilled a request from the U.S. Army for a “pleasant-tasting, reconstituted powdered milk with reduced lactose” for field rations. Holsinger added dry lactase enzymes to regular powdered milk to break down the lactose when the powder was reconstituted. She found that even when the dry milk was stored at high temperatures, the enzyme retained 90% of its lactose-breakdown abilities.
A member of the Institute of Food Technologists since 1972, Holsinger was active in the Dairy Technology Division, which she chaired in 1991. Her many honors include the ARS Distinguished Scientist of the Year Award in 1992 and the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented to her by the National Science Foundation in 1995 for “accomplishment in dairy product research and for aiding the advancement of other women in the fields of science and engineering.”