01-06-2007
Fromatech opened new R&D Centre
Fromatech Ingredients opened its new R&D Centre in Sittard, The Netherlands, on 28 May 2007. The new facility created a new home for the corporate R&D and application laboratories. The new R&D Centre has created a large space for product formulations in all product categories: Cheese Based Powders, Flavours and Seasoning sections. “With increased room for personnel and increased room for raw materials, we feel we can provide a great place to work for our employees and a great centre for customer visits and customer oriented projects”, said Ivan Valerio, Executive P.R. Manager of Fromatech Ingredients. An excellent location at the HQ to build a new, high-tech R&D centre was found. With increasing turnover generated over the last decade meant a new location was needed for the R&D, Sensory and Application labs. More then 25 creative people are working on the development of new taste profile at the moment! The staff in the R&D centre is highly educated and is trained in different disciplines, such as flavourists, Organic Chemists, Analytical chemists and Food Technologists. The staff of the R&D centre is a mix of nationalities. This mix of nationalities enables different perspectives for the creation of flavours. The result is a multi-disciplinary team, which makes it able to create unique products. The R&D centre is divided into departments: a Savoury Flavour and Sweet Flavour development department, a Sensory department, an Application department and an Analytical department. New products are developed in the new state-of-the-art laboratory, which is equipped with sophisticated equipment, like GCMS and LCMS. This analytical equipment gives the technical personnel the ability to do a great deal of flavour analysis. The seasoning labs are equipped with new equipment as well including a variety of tools to analyze flow ability, lumping and flavour and colour stability. Also equipment to create new generations of reaction flavours and a mini spray dryer for the development of spray dried flavours is available. Sensory analysis is very important in flavour research and development. A special area for sensory evaluation and quality control has also been added in the new R&D centre. Products can be tested under perfect conditions (i.e. all outside influences such as smell and noise, are neutralised). The Application Department provides a large space for customer demonstrations and will enable the company to perform a wide range of industrial type application testing in products such as snacks, beverages, dairy, meat, sauces, confectionery and bakery products. This new flexibility, quality and pricing Fromatech is ahead in the market and the goal for the coming years is to build further on this position with the help of the new R&D centre possibilities. The company has so far invested more than Euro 1.000.000 in setting up the R&D and application centre and plans additional investment in the near future in additional equipment.