Chr. Hansen Inaugurates Upgraded Color Innovation Center

Chr. Hansen has celebrated the official re-opening of its extended and modernized color expertise center in Montpellier, France. The site will be the central arena for international customer innovation focusing on new, natural appearances for tomorrow’s food products.

6/16/2011 --- In April Chr. Hansen announced the inauguration of two extended color production plants in Peru and Denmark. Now, the Danish ingredients supplier re-opens its Mediterranean color hub after a thorough makeover there including an expansion and renewal of the laboratories as well as increasing the R&D and application staff.

The Montpellier ‘Global Color Expertise Center’ is dedicated to application work within beverages, dairy, fruit preparations and phytonutrients, four of Chr. Hansen’s key industries in the color business.

“Our decision to expand our facilities here is directly linked to the continued strong demand for natural colors. Everything indicates that the current trend of converting from synthetic to natural colors in the global food industry will continue. At the same time we are observing increasingly sophisticated requirements from our customers. This upgrade will secure that our customers here ? no matter their level of experience or nature of request ? will receive continued fast and accurate advice as well as even stronger technical support,” says Luc Ganivet, Business Development Director, Colors & Blends Division, Chr. Hansen.

“As the leading supplier of natural colors to the food industry we have to invest to stay ahead of competition not only in production capacity but also in regards to R&D expertise and innovation framework conditions. The Montpellier laboratories will be buzzing with customer R&D representatives and Chr. Hansen specialists jointly developing the next generations of breakthrough natural color innovations,” ends Carsten Bennike, Executive Vice President, Colors & Blends Division, Chr. Hansen.

Apart from Montpellier, France Chr. Hansen has a ‘Global Color Expertise Center’ in its Danish headquarters in Hoersholm which focuses on color solutions for the confectionery and ice cream industries.