Balchem boosts microencapsulation capabilities with New York manufacturing hub

Global manufacturer of specialty ingredients for human nutrition, Balchem, plans to develop a new, high-capacity manufacturing facility for its advanced microencapsulated technologies for food ingredients.

Located in New York, US, the facility is slated to open in 2027. It will increase the production capacity of Balchem’s microencapsulation solutions, BakeShure, ConfecShure, and MeatShure, which are used across bakery, confectionery, and meat applications.

Balchem flags that these solutions offer benefits, including extended shelf life, optimized texture, and enhanced production efficiency. Microencapsulation maintains the functionality of specialty food ingredients, improving the stability and handling characteristics of sensitive actives.

The planned production scale will allow Balchem to significantly ramp up these solutions and keep pace with increasing demand.

Balchem at Fi Europe 2025

Andrew Hart, director of strategic marketing and business development, Flavors & Encapsulates at Balchem, recently explained how the company’s advanced encapsulation technology helps brands turn science-backed ingredients into consumer-ready products.

“Our encapsulation technology is designed to be a drop-in technology, but depending on the product being developed, the utilization and development process differ. We have been highlighting our bakery capabilities and technologies associated with that,” Hart told Food Ingredients First at Fi Europe 2025 last week.

“Our encapsulation technology is about taking a functional ingredient that adds value into a bakery, confectionery, or meat product and putting a protective coating around it, so the ability to utilize that is going to be very dependent on releasing the encap. But this should only be done at the appropriate time, so the ingredient can add value and align with the customers’ process, technology, and goals.”

“Fundamentally, we want to make sure that our customers can use our products in the most efficient way, where they can be incorporated into a product without causing additional upset or interference with their manufacturing process.” 

Functional beverages 

Hart honed in on the growth opportunities in the beverage space, including sports drinks.

“The ready-to-drink beverage space continues to grow, with certain areas that continue to pop. We see a lot of growth with energy beverages, and what we call the crossover beverages — the merging of the capabilities and the functional components delivered in products,” he says. 

“Take sports beverages, for example. They used to be just something associated with hydration and electrolytes, and now the elevation of sports beverages comes by incorporating components such as protein, and other vitamins and minerals. This offers a complete beverage to the athlete or the individual who is consuming it.”

“At Balchem, we are able to support a broad portfolio of products, whether that’s on our beverage side, where we make the beverage bases themselves, or in our minerals and nutrients division, where we add fortified components into beverages.”Andrew Hart, director of Strategic Marketing and Business Development, Flavors & Encapsulates at Balchem, explores how the company’s advanced encapsulation tech helps brands turn science-backed ingredients into delicious, consumer-ready products.

Balchem’s New York facility

Balchem highlights how the new New York facility will incorporate the latest advances in food science and sustainable production. The company’s investment also strengthens its foothold in the US.

Speaking about the key trends Balchem is seeing in the F&B industry at large, Hart points to taste. 

“No matter what you do to the food or beverage, it has to taste great. It has to be something the consumer spends their hard-earned money on, so you want to make sure they are satisfied with that product, and that starts with taste.”

“Taste is something we work very hard on in terms of the components we deliver and the systems we build to enable those food and beverages to be beneficial.” 

“Also, the huge trends associated with clean label. As consumers become more conscious of what they are putting into their bodies, we want to make sure the products align with consumer beliefs.”

“Within Balchem’s different divisions and in terms of the products that we have, whether that be protein or minerals or the colors and flavors that have been utilized in products, we are really excited to bring these offerings to the market.”

GLP-1 friendly foods

As the rise in use of GLP-1 weight loss medications continues to drive consumer behavior across food and beverages, Hart went on to discuss the industry impact Balchem is observing. Particularly, what opportunities are arising for manufacturers to create GLP-1-friendly F&B products, and what are the specific functions of foods they are seeking?

“GLP-1 is continuing to grow on a global level as people are continuing on their journeys to be healthier and lose weight. What we focus on in this area is what we call ‘companion products,’” he says. 

“We are a B2B company, so we are manufacturing ingredients that quite often end up in the types of products that users of GLP-1 medication seek — whether that be going into high-protein products to help maintain muscle balance and looking to fortify with protein in their weight loss journey.”

“For instance, our encapsulated assets are designed to go into meat snack sticks and make a great companion product for GLP-1 users. With our technology, it means there is no sugar added into these meat snack sticks, which enables consumers to strike the right balance between protein intake and carbohydrate intake.”

“We also have minerals and nutrients, which are enabling consumers who are drastically changing their food consumption to still meet the thresholds they need to continue to be healthy as they go along their journey,” he concludes.