IFT First 2024: Louis Dreyfus Company delivers supply chain transparency for conscious consumers
12 Aug 2024 | Louis Dreyfus Company
At IFT First 2024 in Chicago, US, Erin Maxwell, head of ingredients for North America at Louis Dreyfus, told us why the company boasts a “unique place” in the market. The agricultural commodities trader and producer ensures complete oversight of its supply chains, delivering the transparency and quality ingredients that consumers increasingly demand.
Food ingredients first reported from IFT12024 in Chicago.
We're here at the Louis Preux stand with Erin Maxwell, who's head of ingredients for North America.
Welcome to you.
Thank you.
It's so nice to be here.
So what are you highlighting today at the show?
We have a whole lot of ingredients across our company.
Louis-Dreyfus is a worldwide agricultural commodities producer and trader, and we have everything from coffee, citrus, edible oils, glycerin, lecithin.
And a bunch of other products that we're focusing on.
And underneath my purview I'm really focusing on the liquid foods in North America that we produce.
OK.
And what are some of the main consumer trends you're looking to target with these products?
Yeah, that's a great question.
Consumers are always looking to go healthier, more sustainable.
They really want to know where their food is coming from, what are those supply chains, and I think that's where we have a lot of strength as a company because we're a direct manufacturer.
We're Sourcing from the farmers and we know where it's coming from and we are crushing those oil seeds ourselves and producing the downstream ingredients right from the raw seed without any other company touching the products in between.
So I think that really sets us apart from some of the other companies here who are distributors or you know there's a multi-link supply chain.
Can you provide more detail on why that sets you apart from your competitors.
For example, I imagine its transparency.
Absolutely, yes, transparency is really important.
Customers want to know exactly where their crops are grown.
They want to know what countries are the origin of their products.
They're concerned about making sure that the crops are grown with sustainable growing practices as as good labor laws, and that's something that we're focusing on.
Additionally, we're able to control quality at every step of the way, so we're not just making the finished product.
Downstream ingredient, but we're also extracting the oils that are the precursor feedstock to those downstream ingredients.
So yeah, we control quality each step of the way.
We're also often doing it all at one site, so we're eliminating freight costs and other food safety and quality concerns when you start transporting things mid-production.
So yeah, I think it's really exciting.
We really have a unique place that we're marketing from.
