The company, which also has nutrition ingredient technical centers in Germany, Denmark, China, Malaysia, and Brazil, said that the newly expanded Food Technology & Applications Center would showcase its ‘Think Newtrition’ initiative, designed to help customers create new products and improve existing ones. The food research facility is part of BASF’s 160,000 square foot R&D center in Tarrytown.
Technical sales and applications manager for BASF in North America Charles Barber said: “This is the birthplace for concepts and ideas that meet consumers’ demands for healthy, appealing, and convenient products. Consider it a culinary crossroads where science, technical and application support, and market research all come together.”
‘Think Newtrition’ originally was based on Cognis’ marketing approach: ‘Newtrition – Eat. Feel. Live.’. After BASF acquired Cognis for €3bn in December 2010, it modified the idea to integrate both companies’ approaches, describing it as a response to rising demand for nutrition solutions that are healthy yet convenient and flavorsome, as more consumers expect products to be nutritious and enjoyable.
Its newly expanded center encompasses R&D developments in food, beverage and dietary supplements. Barber called the center a “one-stop kitchen” for companies with diverse requirements, whether they are looking to create better texture and taste in nutrition bars, to add colors to beverages, or to improve baked goods.
“We realize that identifying the right ingredient for a product is just one part of the process,” Barber said. “In our center, we can eliminate the guesswork and perfect the formulation to help our customers efficiently market products that resonate with consumers.”
The company said it would also offer workshops and demonstrations of how to best use its ingredients in formulations. In the dietary supplements space, BASF said its Tarrytown team is especially focused on finding new supplement delivery forms.