Adding health value: ADM targets portfolio synergies far beyond beverages

25 Oct 2018 --- ADM’s specialty ingredients business is targeting new innovation platforms for growth, including savory solutions, as the unit moves far beyond their traditional beverage base. WILD Flavors & Specialty Ingredients (WFSI), the legacy Wild business is using SIAL 2018, which ends today in Paris, to highlight a complete range of concepts featuring ingredients from across the ADM portfolio, for complete new product synergy. For example, the pulse flour, navy bean powder, was used in several applications, to both replace dairy or boost the protein content of products.

It is now over four years since ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Company) announced it was acquiring WILD Flavors GmbH, giving the US-headquartered behemoth the ability to offer food and beverage companies a comprehensive suite of systems to enhance and improve their products. At the time, the €2.3 billion acquisition was touted by ADM for adding flavor systems to their portfolio of specialty ingredients. These synergies are now increasingly being seen in new product development.

“ADM’s nutrition division is now positioned as a new ingredient solution provider, not just for beverages, as in the past. We are delivering food solutions and also expertise for different segments in the food and beverage industry,” Bastian Hörmann – Product Manager Food EMEAI tells FoodIngredientsFirst at the Paris event. 

The company featured a main booth within the dairy hall and a satellite booth in the beverage hall. “With the ADM portfolio we have all the toolboxes and solutions that we can provide for the industry we can develop even greater innovative solutions and concepts to show to our customers how our ingredients are working in systems,” he notes.

The entry into culinary creativity and foodservice is quite a departure for WFSI, as it broadens its reach. “We are working to extend our capabilities because although we are coming from the beverage side and are working a lot on the sweet foods side but also with the proteins and fiber in that space we can leverage huge opportunities also in the culinary and meat and meals side – that is a new space entirely,” says Hörmann.

Eating out is gaining significance worldwide. In a global Nielsen survey, approximately half of respondents stated that they eat outside of the home at least once a week; every tenth person even said that this was a daily occurrence (Global Ingredient and Out-of-Home Dining Trends Report, 2016). “There is accordingly high demand from the foodservice industry for innovative, high-quality solutions. ADM is well positioned to help foodservice operators meet their diners’ evolving expectations,” explains Frank Tremmel, Product Manager Foodservice. Partner from the Product Idea to Packaging As a provider of ingredients and solutions with proven development and application expertise, ADM now also supplies products for the foodservice channel in appropriate containers. “In this way, we are positioning ourselves as a partner who meets the requirements of large foodservice companies,” Tremmel adds. The company supplies packaging solutions both through in-house solutions and in collaboration with co-packers.

Also at SIAL, ADM highlighted how it is continually working on optimizing its performance and aligning it to future market requirements. This year, for example, this has included investing in state-of-the-art technologies and establishing modern, interdisciplinary organizational units and additional routes to ensure greater customer proximity. Here are a few new developments:

ADM Strengthens Presence in Africa: In addition to its existing office in Nairobi, Kenya, ADM opened another location in Africa at the beginning of 2018. The new office in Lagos, Nigeria, is a key contact point for customers on the North/West African market and provides them with fast, direct access to the consulting and other services of ADM experts. 

New Production Plant for Colors in Berlin: As a result of further increasing demand for foods and beverages with natural ingredients, ADM has increased its production capacity for WILD coloring foodstuffs and WILD Colors from Nature at the company’s Berlin site. One of the two new production lines is designed for water-soluble products, the other for emulsions. The colors are used in flavor systems and fruit preparations, and also sold as single ingredients. 

Chocolate Center: Almost no category hold as much potential for new creative product developments as food containing chocolate. This is reason enough for ADM to establish a new Chocolate Center in Berlin. Since September, several teams of experts from relevant specialist fields have been working here together with customers to develop innovative products.

Visitors to ADM’s booth at SIAL can still experience a huge variety of on-trend products covering the beverage, dairy and food sectors as well as the foodservice area. ADM experts are highlighting the latest natural WILD flavors and WILD Colors from Nature innovations, vegan product options for beverages, sweet food & savory, and especially plant-based protein alternatives. The broad sweetening solutions portfolio, to address sugar reduction trends are being presented as well as lifestyle beverage & food solutions with a focus on nutritional and functional ingredients.

“Applications are expected to really meet the demands of the consumer today because it’s not only about sugar reduction and protein enhancement, it’s all the things that are working in between the foodstuff so all the ingredients work together,” says Hörmann. 

“We can deliver from the fat base to the flour in the dough, to the flavor in a pizza or in a beverage. We can deliver nearly everything off the matrix and the value proposition. We also know how all these ingredients work together. We can supply our customers with our expertise and they know that the ingredients will work in their brand of food and we can develop the market together,” notes Hörmann. 

A particularly innovative concept presented on the booth is a healthier vegan pizza option combining several ingredients in the ADM portfolio. “We are presenting a healthy pizza with a protein and fiber enhanced dough. Pizza is a growing segment in the market and we thought about how we can formulate to make it a bit healthier and more appealing to the people who are conscious about what they are eating. We enhanced the protein and fiber and reduced the salt,” he notes. A navy white bean powder was used to boost the protein content in the dough. 

A dairy-free vegan hazelnut chocolate spread is another highlight on display. “This also reflects our portfolio, because we incorporate fats and oils through the lecithin and emulsifiers. But we also offer flavors and dairy alternatives to replace milk powder. This could be, for example, in chocolate applications or proteins etc. The base is our fats, oils and flavors, while a navy bean powder is used a replacer for the dairy part in those applications,” he explains.

Another category being assessed is healthy snacking, with several flavorful concepts presented containing roasted chickpea, beans and lentils. “When we think about bakery and snacks in Europe, the market is stagnating. The healthy snacking approach is a way to develop the markets even more. So savory snacks and salty snacks are growing in that segment and we can explore a lot of opportunities for our customers. This is where we can combine our flavor expertise and also enhance those things with healthier ingredients. So we are not only talking about the potato chips and flavors it’s about enhancing that with protein and fibers again also with whole food ingredients,” he concludes. 

With several recent probiotic ventures announced at the company in the last couple of years, digestive health will undoubtedly be another area of development, as it moves far beyond its beverage base to innovate in healthier NPD concepts. 

By Robin Wyers