The company is experiencing double-digit growth annually in the natural colorants segment and in the last three years has acquired several natural colors companies and made investments in building fully integrated, safe, and controlled supply chains including Frutarom-owned facilities near the farms it works with.
Sustainable F&B
The newly-opened formulation hub will serve approximately 15,000 customers in Europe, focusing on natural colors application, creating natural flavor combinations, and utilization of beverage compound technologies for sustainable food and beverage products.
Frutarom invested €5m ($6.1m) in equipment and technology for the facility.
“The formulation center will provide our European customers with a full formulation customized service, combining natural flavors, natural colors and advanced food protection solutions to create innovative, sustainable food and beverage products with a competitive edge,” said Ilanit Bar Zeev, VP, Natural Solutions – Natural Colors, BU director at Frutarom.
“The center allow us to do extensive range of customized applications for all type of food and beverages.
“Frutarom brings to the table advanced technologies such as emulsions, blends, spray drying, pasteurization, suspensions together with extensive knowhow on flavors herbal ingredients and pigment sources, extractions and vegetables, fruit and algae concentrations.
“It opened in Q4, 2017.”
Natural colors
According to Zeev, the company already had a foothold in Europe as it was supplying extracts and technology for many years from the Etol plant.
“The reason we are expanding into natural colors is because there is a perfect synergy between flavors and colors in terms of commercial applications,” she added.
“This will give us a strong position in the global market as we focus on providing natural products for our clients.”
Ori Yehudai, CEO, Frutarom, added natural colors are more challenging than synthetic colors in terms of their sensitivity, and if not incorporated correctly can be less stable in food and beverage applications.
He said the company initiated dozens of agriculture collaborations with local farmers in multiple locations and countries to ensure the supply of continuous and sustainable natural sourcing of pigments and food colorings.
“Frutarom is recognized as one of the world’s top flavor houses, and top five suppliers of natural colors, worldwide. The company is committed to a sustainability strategy, supporting farmers in multiple locations, and controlling its supply chain throughout to maintain full transparency and ensure product safety,” he said.
“This strategic move to become a major player in natural colors globally took three years but we put immense efforts and investments to do it right, and beneficial to the local farmers and our employees.”