Fruits, roots, seeds, bark, herbs, flowers and nuts are all natural flavors and sustainable foods are growing in popularity around the world. Symrise specialists are set to present their range in terms of sustainability and naturalness at Food Ingredients Europe (FiE), the world’s leading trade fair for food ingredients, next week, held in Frankfurt from November 28-30, 2017. The company demonstrates how well-positioned it is to meet the needs of customers today and tomorrow.
Consumers love natural tastes. This trend began in individual markets and with individual product categories. The situation has now changed completely. More than ever, consumers want environmentally friendly and ethical food for conscious nutrition. Symrise recognized these trends early on and has conducted numerous studies to analyze them. Visitors can see the results and solutions from this at FIE 2017 during four exciting presentations.
Hamish Taylor, Project Manager for Sustainability at Symrise, will present a project for sustainable cultivation of citrus fruit in Calabria. The project is working toward building a local network of farmers, cooperatives and universities. It aims to foster biodiversity in the region and support the farmers in achieving a reliable livelihood. “The local farmers only feel motivated to invest more in the cultivation of citrus fruit if it will allow them to earn an appropriate income for themselves and future generations,” Taylor explains.
Rob Evans, head of the research & development department of the Diana Food division, will present how sustainability can be implemented across the entire value chain using a study on beetroot. In his presentation, he will show how type selection, sourcing and processing of raw materials, from the producer to the consumer, can ensure a sustainable range of products.
Successful concepts for the future
The growing demand for “real food” made from the best natural ingredients, responsibly produced by carefully selected growers, has led to the fact that transparency and “clean labels” with a short list of ingredients significant influence consumers’ purchasing decisions. Frank Hoeving, Vice President of Category Culinary EAME at Symrise, provides an overview of how the consumers’ desires regarding food labeling can be met. He will speak about the backward integration of raw materials and the expertise of Symrise in specific production processes as well as support for proper labeling.
The global boom in demand for natural-tasting food has now also extended to the emerging markets. The governments in these countries are increasingly reviewing and planning to pass their own laws regarding flavoring substances and food safety. The legal and technical production challenges that can result from these developments and how these challenges can be successfully met will be addressed by Ute Woelke, Vice President for Strategic Regulatory Affairs at Symrise, in the third presentation.
Given the global trend toward naturalness and sustainability, Symrise is continually expanding its competence in naturalness. The company is working on a strategic platform based on both – decades of experience and profound corporate knowledge in the processing of botanical raw materials, and it also draws on the results of a cross-national study in which Symrise analyzed the matter from the view of the consumers and experts with an eye on technological requirements.
“We can say with precision how a certain beverage should taste and which additional characteristics will boost the impression of naturalness. This allows us to understand consumer wishes more closely and we can implement them in successful beverage concepts,” says Dr. Alexander Lichter, Sales Director Flavor EAME at Symrise.
