22 Sept - Tate & Lyle has today announced that it opened its new Health and Wellness Innovation Centre in Villeneuve d'Ascq near Lille, France on the 18th of September, 2008.
The state-of-the-art €4 million facility will focus on developing new and innovative ingredients with clinically proven health benefits in the field of weight management, digestive health, vitality and healthy ageing and will include the development of novel applications for Tate & Lyle’s functional food ingredients, Texturants, Sweeteners and ENRICH™ platforms.
The Centre will also lead Tate & Lyle’s European fibre platform and will specialise in application and development work for SPLENDA® Sucralose and CORE™ ingredient solutions, chiefly in the areas of Beverages, Dairy, Bakery and Convenience Food.
The Centre’s laboratories and pilot plant facilities will be open for
Tate & Lyle’s customers, supporting them with their innovation projects.
The Centre also deploys Marketing resource to help drive Food and Beverage innovation in the field of Health and Wellness.
Speaking at the grand opening Dr. Sandra Einerhand, European Director Health & Nutrition said: "The Innovation Centre will drive research and development of functional ingredients and functional foods. There are a number of top academic institutes with renowned scientists and dynamic organizations such as the Nutrition Health Longevity Cluster in the region, which will help Tate & Lyle to leverage external knowledge to the benefit of our consumers worldwide.
"Working closely with both academic and industrial parties across Europe we will be able to accelerate innovation and build unique science to create new ingredients wanted by the health conscious consumer."
James Blunt, Vice-President Sales & Marketing, commented: "This is an important day for Tate & Lyle’s operations in Europe. We have always been clear that the foundation of our business is built on providing our customers with the best possible service.
"The opening of this centre will help us to improve this service once again. It will not only provide a huge boost to the development of our own value added ingredient product range, but will also be extremely valuable to our customers as they refine and perfect their own products.
"Our research shows that consumers in Europe are becoming more conscious of having a healthy balanced diet. We are confident that this facility will be one of the principal hubs in the industry for the development of health and wellness ingredients across a range of applications."