Cargill Opens New Snacks and Cereal Product Innovation Center

The center also will develop snack, bar and cereal formulations that meet customers’ specific requirements for color, texture and moisture.

09/07/08 Cargill has expanded its capabilities to help food manufacturers create innovative new products that drive sales growth with the opening of a new Snacks and Cereal Product Innovation Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

“The new facility unites Cargill’s product formulation and pilot plant scale-up capabilities under one roof, enabling the company to help customers accelerate new product development and testing and increase speed to market,” said Luis Rayas, the center’s technical director. According to Rayas, Cargill also will add new, specialized technical personnel at the facility.

Opened in June, the new center allows snacks and cereal customers to leverage Cargill’s culinary experts, food scientists and engineers on a wide range of new product initiatives. Cargill’s product manufacturing capabilities at the new center include:

*Puffed snacks and cereals
*Extruded flakes and snacks
*Coating of snacks and cereal components (flavors, sweeteners, etc.)
*Granola and clusters
*Protein, nutritional, fruit and granola bars, including double-layer combinations
*Chocolate and compound enrobing of snacks and cereal components, including bottom-coating and drizzling

Dough-based baked products (snack pretzels, chips, bars and bites filled with fruit, cheese, spreads, etc.) and fried baked products (potato chips, corn crisps, etc.).

“We opened this center to help our customers accelerate ideation and new product development,” said Jon Wiersum, vice president, Snacks and Cereal Category, Cargill. “We are focusing on culinary-based product developments that result in healthier products that meet consumers’ expectations for taste, texture and visual appeal.”

The center also will develop snack, bar and cereal formulations that meet customers’ specific requirements for color, texture and moisture. In addition, the center offers process development, process scale-up and integrated supply chain solutions – from ingredient sourcing to identifying appropriate co-packers and capabilities to deliver complete solutions to customers.

Cargill’s Snacks and Cereal Product Innovation Center complements the company’s Bakery Product Innovation Center, which opened in March at the same Minneapolis location.