Cargill has started Cargill One, an innovation centre in Shanghai. It has been designed to create innovative food products and new flavours for its customers in China. For this, it pooled in all its resources and expertise across broad areas in food, including animal protein, edible oils, sweeteners, starches, cocoa and texturising solutions.
Cargill One is the company’s first innovation centre in Asia that brings together so many different product lines. It will focus on three main areas of innovation – tastes and flavours, food ingredients and menus that appeal to the changing consumer demand.
It employs nearly 50 researchers, scientists, nutritionists and chefs who will work with customers to develop nutritious and safe food that meet the changing tastes of consumers. Todd Hall,senior vice-president, Cargill, said, “Product innovation is one of the cornerstones of our evolution from a grain warehouse to a global leader in food and agriculture over the past 151 years.”
“We have multiple innovation centres around the world specialising in distinct food groups, such as animal protein, sweeteners, food texturisers and feed. Cargill One is our first innovation centre in Asia that pulls together all this knowledge from our many businesses to offer a one-stop consultancy to our customers in China,” he added.
The rapid socio-economic development in China is quickly changing the diets of Chinese consumers and the way they view their food. At the most basic level, people need to know their food is 100 per cent safe.
Cargill takes an uncompromising approach to food safety and has in place the strictest standards to ensure that all its food products are absolutely safe.
Cargill One will deliver the food and flavours that the Chinese consumers want in their diet in a safe, healthy and nutritious way. The centre will also be a platform for public education on food safety and nutrition.
Hall added, “Cargill One builds upon our vision to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. It also demonstrates the value that we place on China and our commitment to our customers here. I believe that in time, we will extend our service at Cargill One to other markets across Asia Pacific.”
Chris Mallett, vice-president, research and development (R&D), Cargill, said, “Cargill One is the future of food. It is a window for us to better understand what consumers want today and tomorrow, and help our customers be ready with the food their consumers want in the future.”
These new facilities represent another major step in a series of recent investments that Cargill has made in R&D and innovation around the world and demonstrates our continuous commitment to our customers and a realisation of our vision to be the most trusted partner in agriculture, food and nutrition.