Tate & Lyle, has today (17 November) insisted it is continuing to expand its food ingredients business and said it would focus on driving down costs for customers and on developing products to improve health.
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The company, best known for its retail sugar line in the UK and its sucralose brand Splenda, has restructured its ingredients operations in recent years, with plant closures across Europe, as well as the 2007 sale of some of its starch operations on the Continent.
Speaking to just-food, Caroline Sanders, marketing director for Tate & Lyle’s food and industrial ingredients business in Europe, said the company had revamped its business in the aftermath of a series of investments, including the acquisition of a 80% stake in German speciality ingredients firm G.C. Hahn two years ago.
Sanders was keen to play down suggestions that the restructuring meant Tate & Lyle was now running a smaller business in Europe. She pointed to the development of new products and the construction of a plant in the Netherlands to produce polydextrose as evidence the business was growing.
“We divested to invest. We are investing a lot in R&D, which we believe will bring the revenues of the future,” Sanders said.
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By GlobalDataSanders was present at the Food Ingredients Europe exhibition in Frankfurt, where Tate & Lyle was showcasing a range of new products under themes including ‘optimise’ and ‘enrich’.
She claimed Tate & Lyle’s ‘optimise’ programme would help its food manufacturing customers reduce ingredients cost, while its ‘enrich’ initiative is designed to cater for growing demand for healthier ingredients.
Tate & Lyle is putting the finishing touches to its polydextrose plant in the Netherlands and expects production to start in early 2010. Sanders said the plant would enable the company to produce the ingredient in Europe for the first time and therefore better serve its customers in the region.
Polydextrose, which can be used in a range of food products, will help Tate & Lyle meet demand for lower-cost and healthier ingredients in what is an improving business environment, Sanders said.
“We feel and we see that things are picking up,” Sanders said.
