Givaudan, Bühler, and Cargill partner to build Tropical Food Innovation Lab in Brazil

Rendering courtesy of Givaudan.

Givaudan (Vernier, Geneva, Switzerland), Bühler (Uzwill, St. Gallen, Switzerland), and Cargill (Wayzata, MN) have formed a consortium with Food Tech Hub LATAM and Food Technology Institute (ITAL) to build a “Tropical Food Innovation Lab” in Campinas, Brazil. ITAL is one of the Research Institutes of Agribusiness Technology Agency of the São Paulo State Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply.

The innovation center, which will be located at ITAL in a fully refurbished 1,300 square meter area, is to be the go-to-place in Latin America to connect and develop sustainable food and beverage products. As part of the lab, startups, companies, investors, universities and research institutions will have direct access to high-end technologies for rapid prototyping and plugging into the global food tech ecosystem in order to foster fast paced innovation. This included the most current generation of wet and dry extrusion systems for plant-based proteins, as well as beverages processing units, which will add complementary capabilities to ITAL’s existing facilities. When completed, the facility will feature new application labs and a state-of-the-art demo kitchen.

“ITAL with its almost 60 years of history in Brazil has become a market reference in carrying out research and development as well as providing technological and innovation support. Sharing our facilities will help to carry out joint RD&I activities with the aim of establishing tools for the creation of an innovation food ecosystem as well transferring technology for the food production sector to stimulate socioeconomic development,” said Gisele Camargo, director of research program and deputy director of ITAL, in a press release.

“The Tropical Food Innovation Lab brings a diverse and complementary group of strategic partners working together investigating market shifts, cross-fertilizing ideas and nourishing concepts to deliver superior sustainable solutions to Food & Beverage customers,” said Eduard Fontcuberta, regional innovation head at Givaudan. “At Givaudan, we continuously challenge ourselves to create delicious and nutritious food experiences. With an expanded portfolio of products across flavors, taste, sense, health and nutritional solutions and a deep knowledge of the food ecosystem, we are uniquely positioned to drive positive change within the food industry.”

“This new innovation lab is a great achievement for Bühler and we believe it will leverage significantly the food industry development in South America, especially in Brazil,” stated Damien Chapelier, head of Bühler South America. “As a leading process technology and solution provider, with more than 160 years of experience and a strong focus on innovation, we believe we can contribute with our know-how to create real impact. Only within a collaborative and innovative environment, it is possible to support our customers to be successful in a dynamic market, through the development of new products.”

“Cargill is working to nourish the world. We’re bringing together people, ideas, and resources to deliver products, technology and ways of operating that build successful businesses and communities, with our customers in the center of this approach. The Tropical Food Innovation Lab represents a great example of this commitment in LATAM, where we will join our forces with distinguished partners in a very unique environment for co-creation and collaboration to accelerate sustainable innovations what matters to the regional agri-food value chain and beyond that, to support our customer strategy and demands,” said Carlos Prax, regional R&D leader at Cargill.

The Tropical Food Innovation Lab is planned to open in Q1 2023.