CHINA – Irish global flavour and ingredients company Kerry has acquired China’s Jining Nature Group, as it looks to expand its savoury offering in the Asia Pacific region.
Jining Nature Group is one of the largest savory flavor manufacturers in China. It’s the owner of popular food ingredient brands Tianbo and Tianzheng.
The company owns two factories. One is Shandong Tianbo Food Ingredients Co Ltd, another one is Jining Nature Foods Co Ltd, which is a separate Halal factory
The acquisition is expected to strengthen Kerry’s portfolio with a wide range of authentic local and regional taste technologies and application capabilities.
It will further help Kerry expand its customer base in China by providing deeper access to the country’s large regional markets, via Jining Nature Group’s distribution and foodservice channels.
Kerry says that Jining Nature Group, which has more than 300 employees, will enhance its savoury flavour manufacturing capabilities in the Asia Pacific market.
With the acquisition, Kerry expects to be able to offer a full suite of savoury offerings in the region alongside its existing sweet and beverage flavour portfolios.
Jining Nature Group has 6 series and more than 500 kinds of products including pure meat powder, Millard reaction flavors, meat essential oil, natural spices, spice essential oil and compound seasonings among others.
“This acquisition will be an important component of our global savoury taste strategy and, as a highly respected leader in the savoury taste marketplace in China, will allow us to accelerate our leadership in the key categories of meat, snacks and instant noodles,” Kerry’s CEO Taste, John Savage, said.
“The deep understanding from the Jining Nature team of local cuisine will enable us to create truly authentic taste solutions across a wide range of application and channels.”
The Chinese acquisition follow’s Kerry’s announcement that it had agreed to acquire Bio-K Plus International, a Canadian probiotics company, for an undisclosed figure.
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