Show Review - Adding Value and Function to Products

Food Ingredients Asia (Fi Asia) 2009 attracted over 7,000 trade visitors from 50 countries to Bangkok, Thailand from September 9 to 11. Asia Food Journal speaks to some show exhibitors to get their take on Asia’s functional foods sector in their businesses.

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Brian Bonde (left)

Chief Representative/Key Account Manager, and

Sven Hogh Petersen (right) Team Leader Pediatrics

Arla Foods Ingredients

We market whey fractions in the infant nutrition sector and promote ingredients such as whey protein isolate for sports beverages and Capolac, which is natural milk calcium for bone health. Asia’s nutritional food sector is growing, as consumers focus more on natural and healthy food products. About 4% of our income is generated from Asia. To strengthen our presence in this region, we have recently opened a regional office in Singapore. The market for infant formula is mainly dominated by larger companies and we focus on offering ingredients that improve the nutritional quality of infant formula.

We also have a variety of customers in the health and performance sector as the end-products, where our ingredients are used, span across various product categories such as beverages, protein bars, powder and milk drinks.

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Ola Flesland CEO

Biomega AS

Marine Bioproducts AS

Even though we supply products to animal feed and pet food customers in Europe, we are starting to test new products in the food sector. This is our first time participating in Fi Asia and we have gathered much interest among food and beverage players on marine ingredients such as the food-grade salmon oil. We are conducting more research and development on marine protein products as food ingredients and nutraceuticals, which we believe will be a trend in the health sector in the future.

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Paul Filby

Managing Director Europe and Asia

Kalsec Europe

We produce a range of herb and spice extracts, which have functional properties besides their more commonly known flavor and color attributes. For example, we manufacture natural antioxidants from the Rosemary herb that produce different types of Herbalox (a Rosemary extract). Paprika can also be grown for pigments such as zeaxanthin, which can be added to health supplements to prevent macular eye degeneration.

Asia accounts for 20% of our revenue. Exports from Southeast Asia have been growing, resulting in a demand for safe, high performance ingredients. To reach and understand the players in the market, we work with our direct customer contact groups as well as distributor and agency network.

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Harin D. Juthani (right), and

Mahesh Tibrewala (left)

Roha Dyechem (Thailand)

We supply food colors to our customers through our 19 offices worldwide. We produce both synthetic and natural food colors to manufacturers of products such as confectionery, seafood and functional beverages. Asia is important to our business – about 60% of our revenue comes from this region. There is a growing demand for our products here and this is mainly driven by growing consumer demand for ready meals. With our nine manufacturing plants worldwide, we are expanding our capacities to meet the increasing demand and requirements of our customers, especially in the natural food colors sector.

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Teresa T.K. Kuwahara (right)

Manager, International Marketing, and

Kraipop Pangsapa (left)

Thailand representative

The United States Potato Board

We are a non-profit organization and we are here to educate the industry on the benefits of using potato products. We have been researching and developing new products using dehydrated potatoes, which are instrumental in reducing the amount of sugar and butter needed bakery products for example. We are in close contact with the producers and exporters of potato products and we are also here to help connect buyers and sellers.

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Hendrik Mogenburg

General Manager

Stern Ingredients Asia Pacific

We supply vitamins, vitamin premixes and formulated compounds to beverage manufacturers. We also produce flour fortification solutions. Asia accounts for 15% of our revenue. Besides having an office with a research and development laboratory in China, we also have offices in Singapore, Malaysia and India. We expect a significant revenue growth in Asia in the future, as Asians are becoming more health-conscious and more are demanding natural products. We also work closely with our business partners and agents to learn about our customers’ needs and profile.

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Tan Eng Kiau

Group Sales and Marketing Manager

Family Cereal

Custom Food Ingredients

We plan to enter the growing functional foods sector by providing our customers with ingredients that fortify cereals and oatmeal with omega 3 for example. The trend towards functional foods is driven by more health-conscious consumers. Our revenue in Asia is growing at 20-30% yearly and we expect to see a 40% growth this year. Our customers in Asia are in the functional foods sector and we are working with them on new product formulation such as adding collagen in cereal/malt milk and herbal drink. Our main customers are from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

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Tan Chee Hong

Group Managing Director

Matrix

Matrix Flavours and Fragrances

We produce liquid and powdered flavors for more than 31 years and we are certified with standards such as hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP), good manufacturing practice (GMP) and Halal. We have manufacturers in Indonesia and Vietnam and our customers come from sectors such as bakery, biscuits and beverages. We focus on research and development to create new products, as we compete with our Western counterparts for talent and technology. In this labor-intensive and high-technology industry, we need to connect to our customers in order to grow and remain competitive.

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