JAPAN – Cargill has joined forces with hydrocolloids specialist Unitec Foods and sugar manufacturer Fuji Nihon Seito Corporation, to boost innovation and go-to-market strategy in Japan and Asia-Pacific region.
Under the new memorandum of understanding, the three companies will collaborate on technical, operational, and commercial initiatives.
From a commercial perspective, the companies will be jointly utilizing each of their production capabilities and distribution channels across Japan and the broader Asian market.
This includes the co-development of new products/technology integrating expertise and technical know-how from the Cargill Innovation Center in Singapore as well as Unitec Foods’ development facilities in Japan.
Unitec Foods, an exclusively owned subsidiary of Fuji Nihon Seito Corporation, has been in partnership with Cargill since 1972, which has enabled Cargill to grow its pectin business in the Japanese market.
Shinichi Sekita, President and Director of Unitec Foods said: “The eating habit of consumers have undergone significant changes in the past 50 years, and pectin is now widely used in a large variety of desserts.”
“Foods produced with pectin can be easily accessed by consumers in department stores and convenience stores. As we enter the new partnership, we will expand our collaboration with Cargill to pursue further possibilities of food ingredient solutions and expand our domestic competitive advantage across Asia-Pacific.”
Recently, Cargill has also partnered with other two key global food players, Givaudan, Bühler to form a consortium in collaboration with the Food Tech Hub LATAM and the Institute of Food Technology (ITAL).
The three companies will build a food innovation center in the city of Campinas, recognized as Brazil’s tech powerhouse.
The “Tropical Food Innovation Lab” will be located in ITAL, in a fully refurbished, 1,300-square-meter area.
The consortium positions the new site as a hub in Latin America to connect and develop sustainable future food and beverage products.
The Tropical Food Innovation Lab will comprise the most current generation of wet and dry extrusion systems for plant-based proteins, as well as beverage processing units.
When complete, the facility will feature new application labs and a state-of-the-art demo kitchen, where consumers, food scientists, nutritionists, Chefs, mixologists, and marketers, among other professionals, will work together to create environmentally sustainable new products.
Among Bühler’s latest developments, the Swiss processing machinery specialist last partnered with Givaudan to accelerate the development and market penetration of new cell-based meat products.
Together with Migros Industrie, the industry titans formed a new entity – The Cultured Food Innovation Hub – located in The Valley in Kemptthal, a “hotbed of innovation and technology” just outside of Zurich.
Cargill, the major agri-food supplier also bolstered its position in rapid chocolate development and consumer-centric gourmet offerings with the grand opening of the House of Chocolate.
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