20 April 2012 --- Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business has officially marked the completion of upgrades to its cocoa processing facility in Wormer, the Netherlands following a U.S. $82 million (€57 million) investment.

Cargill has opened a new Center of Expertise for cocoa and increased the cocoa powder production capacity at its Wormer facility enabling Cargill to strengthen its ability to offer customers greater product innovation and increased levels of service.

“This investment is another demonstration of Cargill’s commitment to providing our customers with a broader and more bespoke service to meet their individual needs,” said Jos de Loor, managing director, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate. “This new world-class facility, along with our existing network and our food ingredient expertise will support our cocoa and chocolate growth strategy.”

The upgrade is in response to growing customer demand for high quality cocoa powders that are tailor-made to individual customer specifications. The Wormer facility processes cocoa liquor into cocoa butter and powder offering customers globally over 100 types of cocoa powder with a diverse variety of flavours and colours under the premium Gerkens brand.

The new Center of Expertise brings together all of Cargill’s cocoa quality, technology and innovation expertise. The combination of its team of experts and its new state-of-the-art facilities mean Cargill is able to work more closely with customers to develop new products containing cocoa ingredients, as well as partner on product development and formulation, while ensuring high standards of quality and food safety. The Center includes an ISO 17025 accredited quality control laboratory, a pilot plant for product and process development, as well as an expanded expert taste panel to support sensorial evaluation for cocoa liquor and powder products.

The investment has also enabled Cargill to open a new, fully automated cocoa powder warehouse and distribution center in the port of Amsterdam with very high food quality and safety standards. The warehouse will provide an efficient storage capacity, storing three times as much product per square metre as conventional warehouses in the port of Amsterdam. Better transport and capacity planning will also result in more than 10 per cent reductions in CO2 emissions on existing transport and customer shipments.

“The Netherlands has been a focal point of Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business for many years,” continued de Loor. “Our new Center of Expertise will offer our customers even greater innovation and insight, while upgrades to our production and storage capacities will mean they will also benefit from higher quality and customer service.”

Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate facilities in the Netherlands are part of its wider cocoa and chocolate network in Western Europe, Africa, Brazil, Canada and the United States. Cargill has been supplying quality cocoa and chocolate products to customers around the world in the chocolate, confectionery and food industry for over 50 years.