Cargill Unveils French Flavors Plant Upgrade

The newly-designed plant, which will be opened officially on 29 April, offers improved flexibility for customers, as well as ensuring consistent, high quality product delivery that has become synonymous with the Cargill brand.

4/6/2011 --- Cargill’s flavor business has made a significant investment in the liquid flavor blending plant at its production facility in Grasse, France.  The redevelopment has resulted in increased efficiencies in production flow.

The newly-designed plant, which will be opened officially on 29 April, offers improved flexibility for customers, as well as ensuring consistent, high quality product delivery that has become synonymous with the Cargill brand.

The plant has been redesigned to enable component materials for each bespoke flavor to be collated in “one pass”.  New technology, including intelligent mobile recipe weighing stations, an automated dosing robot and paternoster system for compounders, means that production is now faster and, more importantly, ensures that repeat flavor specifications are accurate and consistent every time.

“This is a significant redevelopment for Grasse and underlines our commitment to growing our share of the flavors market,” says Leon Berndsen, Operations Director for Cargill Flavor Systems.  “Coinciding with the investment, we have achieved FSSC 22000 certification1, assuring customers of our dedication to food safety and quality and our rigorous staff training programme.” 

Berndsen continues: “Food and drink manufacturers are always striving for innovation, with particular focus at present on healthy and natural products.  This presents new challenges for flavor companies who need to be flexible in their approach and deliver the best possible flavor quality every time.  Cargill’s investment in Grasse enables us to do this.”

Cargill’s Grasse plant produces flavor chemicals, natural extracts and liquid flavors as well as powder blending.  It is best known for production of “brown note” flavors, such as cocoa and vanilla, for a range of applications, particularly in the beverage and dairy sectors.