Symrise to expand its portfolio of health-oriented foods

Symrise has initiated a new Consumer Health unit that will specialise in creating functional ingredients for food supplements and flavour solutions for health products. The Symrise consumer-health team will be a driving force in the corporation's health and nutrition strategy. The head of the new unit is Dirk Bennwitz.

The trend toward well-balanced and healthy eating habits is still going strong: today's consumers want products that meet several demands at once. Food has to be healthy and give them a feeling of wellness, but it also has to be convenient and taste good.

There are two particular factors influencing this trend. One is that consumers' awareness of health issues is growing and, at the same time, the individualisation of their needs is increasing as well. People want custom-tailored products which are not just healthy but also fill specific functions - strengthen the heart, rejuvenate the skin, slow the ageing process or support physical fitness.

“We are responding to this growing market by increasing our focus on health and nutrition”, explains Symrise CEO Heinz-Jürgen Bertram. “Consumer Health will develop a wide range of functional ingredients for modern food supplements and offer flavour solutions for health products, such as OTC drugs, medical food and diet foods.”

The business unit will be supported in its work by the Symrise Competence Centre for Health & Nutrition, which works as an independent entity for all four business units (beverages, savoury, sweet and consumer health). The Competence Centre provides the units with market and consumer data as well as information about product safety. It also assists them in developing innovative products and ingredients based on scientific and nutritional insights.