DUBAI – Symrise, a major producer of flavors for the food industry, has established a new innovation center in Dubai in order to deliver better taste solutions customized for the Middle East region. 

The company is reported to have invested around €1 million (about US$1.2m) into the new facility that houses development, application, and sensory laboratories.

Symrise says it aims to use the new center to support the development of consumer-led concepts and taste solutions for categories such as beverages, culinary, dairy, snacks and confectionery. 

The dedicated application and sensory laboratories will particularly come in handy in supporting the teams in areas from marketing, sensory and consumer insights to regulatory, technical and commercial to flavour and nutrition evaluation. 

“The modern lab will help us customize products to local and regional tastes with international standards. And our advanced facilities will enable us to better serve demand in the market and optimally align our business with our customers,” said Sofiane Berrahmoune, director for the Middle East and Africa sub-region. 

Meanwhile, the sensory booths (where panelists taste, evaluate, and describe flavors in application) feature equipment and programs that help design solutions to meet customers’ expectations. 

Expanding capacity in the Middle East

Symrise has been operating in the Middle East for many decades and opened its first sub-regional offices in Dubai in 2005.  

Since then, the company claims it has witnessed double-digit growth year-on-year with its partners across the Middle East region. 

In order to meet demand of partners and to accommodate its growing team, Symrise recently moved its sub-regional centre to the Gold Tower in the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, Jumeirah Lakes Towers. 

Dirk Bennwitz, flavors president for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, describes the move as the next phase of the company’s business growth through its new sub-regional center.   

He said: “Our investment in the new hub, our human resources and the ‘ultramodern’ creation, development and application facilities will allow us to identify and decipher industry trends and deliver innovation to our customers across strategic categories and the future of food segments: functional beverages and plant protein.” 

According to a statement from the company, the 10,500-square-foot innovation centre will serve the Middle East and Pakistan markets; in addition to supporting Africa. 

The workspace has been designed in line with the company’s four pillars of sustainability in mind; footprint, innovation, sourcing and care.  

The new facility is also working towards achieving carbon neutral status to support the Symrise global objective of halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and reaching positive climate operations from 2030 onwards. 

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