6 Jan 2010 --- Nestlé opened a global R&D Centre for biscuits and cereal-based snacks in Santiago de Chile. Present at the inauguration were Álvaro Erazo, Health Minister, Reinaldo Ruiz, Agriculture Minister, Alberto Undurraga, Mayor of Maipú and Paul Bulcke, Nestlé CEO.

The new R&D Centre will lead Nestlé’s global research and development in biscuits and cereal-based snacks, focusing both on innovation and renovation of products. R&D Santiago will bring together specialists from various fields, including nutrition, engineering, product development and quality control. With ingredients such as wholegrain, fruits and nuts, biscuits are part of a healthy balanced diet. The development of new technologies at R&D Santiago will help to further reduce sugar and fat levels to make biscuits lighter, without compromising taste or texture. R&D Santiago will also develop biscuits with bioactive ingredients to improve digestive health as well as fortified products to address local micronutrient deficiencies, thereby adapting biscuits to local tastes and needs.

"The research at this Centre will provide exciting opportunities for innovation in a very important product category. It will allow us to offer consumers in Latin America and beyond the choice of tasty, healthy, more nutritious biscuits," said Nestlé’s CEO Paul Bulcke at the event. Nestlé’s growing and profitable biscuit business amounted to CHF 1.4 billion in 2008, with 60% of sales achieved in Latin America. Overall, Latin America is an important region for Nestlé, where the Company has been present for many decades and reached sales of CHF 15.5 billion in 2008. In Chile, Nestlé has been present for 76 years, and today has 7 production facilities in different parts of the country. The new centre in Santiago will benefit from synergies between R&D and biscuit manufacturing by being based at Nestlé’s industrial site in Maipú, which employs over 1,200 people.

The Centre will work closely with other Nestlé R&D facilities around the world and will engage in local governmental initiatives and partnerships with universities such as the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the Universidad de Chile. Nestlé’s global R&D network comprises 28 Research, Development and Technology Centres and employs around 5,000 people.