US poultry flavors expansion: Diana investment stresses animal welfare goals

18 Jul 2018 --- Diana Food (part of Symrise) has revealed its plans to set up a new facility in Banks Crossing, Georgia, US, dedicated to chicken-based solutions from humanely-raised birds. According to the company, the plant will meet high animal welfare standards and will include a range of chicken fat, broth and powder products. Diana Food plans to open this new plant in October 2018, with ambitions to serve US customers in early 2019 from the facility.

Supported by CIWF (Compassion In World Farming), Diana Food commits that 100 percent of its chicken will meet higher welfare standards by 2023 for the US and 2026 for the EU. 

The business move is aimed at meeting the demands of today’s health-conscious consumers, who not only care about what they eat but also how their food is produced. They want to make responsible food choices without compromising on taste or appearance.

At the IFT Food Expo in Chicago this week (July 16-18), FoodIngredientsFirst spoke with Thomas Couepel, Customer Development Manager for the US Meat Plant, who discussed the companies’ expansion plans for chicken production in North America. 

“We have our main plant based in France and we wanted to expand our facilities in North America. The plant in Georgia is a central area for poultry production and we wanted to locally source raw materials, which deliver clean label and fully sustainable chicken ingredients.”

“The US chicken market is the biggest market worldwide and in terms of capacity, this new plant will be three times bigger than the size of our plant in France,” he reveals. 

For Diana Food, quality comes first. “We select only the freshest American chicken sources and the raw material quality – no antibiotics ever, organic, and animal welfare – is the starting point for a product that meets consumers’ expectations,” Couepel says. 

As part of Diana Foods’ broiler ingredients sourcing policy, the company has been working with CIWF and three weeks ago was awarded the Good Chicken Award, for their dedication to animal welfare policies. 

“By 2023, 100 percent of our raw material will come from animal welfare sourcing and that means we will reduce the density of the broilers within the farms serving us, reduce timing and transport and make improvements within the farms, such as more natural light, which would have a positive impact on the livestock,” Couepel explains. 

The second step for Diana Food is to improve their current portfolios for the new facility. “We will produce three different products: broths, a 32-degree brix broth, a 55-degree brix broth, different concentrates of broth and a broth powder. The idea of bringing these kinds of disruptive products to the market at this time is down to the fact that until now customers could only find frozen chicken broth,” says Couepel. “We will also produce a chicken protein, chicken powder and chicken fat.”

Looking to the future, Couepel also hinted that it might not just be chicken processing at the new facility. “It will be a poultry facility, so we may consider turkey as well,” he notes. 

As far as food application are concerned, the main focus is on the savory market, including soups, sauces and ready meals, says Couepel. 

There could also be opportunities for the premium pet food space, according to Couepel. “We will likely have some products that could be used for pet food manufacturers who are looking for a food grade protein and we could also experiment with the Symrise portfolio for natural flavors.”

“The main focus is not primarily on pet food, the idea is to have a synergistic approach for food, pet food and flavors,” he confirms. 

“We’d like to firstly consolidate the new poultry facility, build on the new range in North America and fine tune the range to suit our customers. After that, we may consider expanding the range, with turkey, for example, and there may also be opportunities for Diana Food in vegetable solutions,” he continues. “There could be possibilities for combining our expertise in chicken solutions with blends of different vegetables or herbs, but that is something for the future.”

Raw vegetable opportunities

The solutions were presented at the joint Symrise/Diana branded booth at FiE 2017 in Frankfurt at the end of last year and are now being taken to US market too. 

Also speaking with FoodIngredientsFirst, Vinifer Dutia, Savory Category Manager for North America, discussed the companies’ new range of concentrates. 

“We have a carrot juice, a leek juice, an onion juice and a garlic juice powder. The purpose of these juice concentrates is that frequently when you are spray drying, you lose a lot of the volatiles during the process. So we have a new process which enables us to capture the volatiles and add them right back into these juice concentrates for a very fresh true to nature garden tasting experience.” 

“These are whole foods and can be labeled as such, but if they want to label it as a flavor then that is also fine,” notes Dutia. “The applications focus is for soups, sauces, ready meals, some beverages, dressing, dips; so mainly in the savory application areas.”

There is a similar portfolio to what Diana Food is offering to its customers in Europe. According to Dutia, for the onion concentrate powder, “It allows culinary notes all the way through from roasting to pan-fried notes. We were able to take a nice, raw and fresh product and apply it in different ways from a product development standpoint.”

The integration of the Diana Food and Symrise portfolio allows both companies to correlate and build on their expertise, says Dutia. “With Diana Food and Symrise we do have a lot of synergies, Symrise does use a lot of the ingredients from the Diana profile as a base for their flavors as well, and will continue to do so,” she concludes. 

Interview by Robin Wyers, in Chicago. Edited by Elizabeth Green