Tetra Pak opens new product development centre in Thailand

Tetra Pak has opened its Product Development Centre (PDC) in Rayong, Thailand, to support food and beverage manufacturers across Asia Pacific (APAC) in taking new products from concept to production.

“Across Asia Pacific, we are seeing strong demand for higher-value, more differentiated food and beverage products,” said Julia Luscher, Vice President, Marketing at Tetra Pak. “To compete regionally and globally, manufacturers need faster validation cycles, more efficient development, and the ability to scale with confidence.”

Designed to bring together Tetra Pak’s capabilities in product innovation and processing with a strong regional ecosystem, the 3716 m² facility consists of two integrated areas: the Liquid Food Solutions and the Food Development Facility. Equipped with semi-industrial, end-to-end pilot plants for both aseptic and non-aseptic applications, the PDC supports six high-growth, liquid-based food and beverage categories spanning dairy, beverages (juice, nectars, still drinks, coffee, and tea), plant-based foods, ice cream, food applications including Tetra Recart culinary and porridge dishes, and food supplements and nutrition.

Together, these capabilities are designed to enable food and beverage manufacturers to:

• Validate recipes and processes before commercial roll-out, reducing risk and enhancing product quality.
• Optimise investment in development by trialling sensitive or high-value ingredients under near-identical conditions to full-scale production.
• Accelerate time-to-market through end-to-end support, from laboratory recipe development through pilot-scale trials to process optimisation.
• Support regional product development by enabling manufacturers to test new ingredients, formulations and processes close to actual production, while gaining access to capabilities across Tetra Pak’s global network of Product Development Centres, each tailored to different food and beverage categories.
• Gain confidence in product launches through sensory testing, nutritional analysis, shelf-life studies and consumer research conducted on-site.
   

The centre features dedicated laboratories and a team of food scientists, bioprocess engineers and process specialists, to ensure every user trial is backed by science and industry expertise. Designed to serve manufacturers of all sizes, the PDC provides access to pilot production facilities, technical guidance and quality validation processes that would otherwise require significant capital investment.

Commercial trials for users of the centre are expected to begin in Q2 2026.

Image caption: From left to right, Julia Luscher with Anna Hammargren and Kanchai Thepvorachai. Image supplied by Tetra Pak.