Page 12 - Food & Drink Business Magazine September 2018
P. 12

COVER STORY
A clean slate
Ingredients companies are the first link in an evolving food chain. Kerry’s VP & general manager ANZ Michele van der Walt spoke to Amanda Bryan about some of the big shifts that are driving the company’s development efforts.
THE ingredients panels on the back of packaged food and beverage products are being rewritten en masse as consumer tastes evolve and Australia’s food and beverage manufacturers strive to
keep up.
The trend, known broadly as
clean label, is one of the biggest global shifts to hit the food industry - and in turn their ingredients suppliers - in recent years, says Michele van der Walt of Kerry Taste and Nutrition.
This change is happening against a backdrop of market fragmentation and localisation in the global food and beverage manufacturing sector, says Van der Walt, who took up the post as Vice President & General Manager Australia & New Zealand in June.
“Where the market was once dominated by three or four big players, it has evolved
significantly and is now comprised of a large number of smaller food and beverage companies that are in turn driving innovation and the localisation trend,” she says.
This is also changing the game for ingredients manufacturers, given the important role they play in product development, says Van der Walt, who most recently ran Kerry’s UK & Ireland Commercial organisation, and prior to that, spent many years with ingredients companies McCormick and Givaudan in other parts of the world.
“It is my firm belief that the ingredients companies that are best positioned to serve both big and small companies will win. Gone are the days where you can simply target just one type of customer.”
A company the size of Kerry, for instance, is well-equipped to
handle the large and long ingredient runs of the global manufacturers, she says, but in line with the changing conditions, has also developed offerings that are more in tune with smaller companies.
“The fragmenting market also brings companies like ours new business opportunities, as it’s in those smaller companies where we’re really seeing much of the leading-edge innovation,”
Van der Walt says.
CLEANER LABELS
And that is shaking up the ingredients game as manufacturers of all shapes and sizes seek to de-clutter and clean up their product ingredient lists through product reformulation.
“Clean label can take on many guises, including the reduction of things like sodium and sugar,
12 | Food&Drink business | September 2018 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au


































































































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