Cargill invests $6.4M for expansion of US facility

The new facility will allow the edible oils business to conduct multi-scale, continuous piloting

Cargill is investing $6.4 million to expand its food pilot capabilities at its North American Pilot Development Center in Savage, Minneapolis, US enabling bakery customers to increase their speed-to-market with new products.

The new facility will allow the edible oils business to conduct multi-scale, continuous piloting, starting with the refining of new vegetable oils and blends and ending with innovative shortening solutions for breads, cakes, cookies, frying and other uses. Other food ingredients, including those used for confectionery products and infant nutrition, can be piloted at the site as well.

Highlights of the 6,500-square-foot facility include:

• A refinery pilot plant to create new oils and blends using the latest technologies to produce shortenings that have enhanced functionality for specific customer applications;
• A state-of-the-art fats and oils crystallization center to process shortening, important for ensuring the right textures in newly designed products; and
• A lab equipped to rapidly analyze key fats and oils quality parameters.

Construction of the new facility, which sits adjacent to Cargill’s existing Engineering R&D Lab in Savage, began in April 2019 and is expected to be fully operational late summer 2020.  The new Center complements Cargill’s state-of-the-art Minneapolis Research and Development Center and Cargill Food Innovation Center.