Givaudan & Bühler set up Protein Innovation Centre in Singapore

Givaudan, an international leading company in taste and wellbeing, and Bühler, global major for food processing solutions, today jointly declared the official inauguration of the APAC Protein Innovation Centre. Settled at the Givaudan Woodlands site in Singapore, the centre is jointly managed and backed by proficients from both companies and is linked to a diverse network of R&D innovation centres in Switzerland and main hubs across the region that allows agile plant-based product development on a global scale.

The centre brings on-board food processing companies, start-ups and university researchers from across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region keen to co-create plant-based food experiences that do good and feel good. It amalgamates the pilot technology of Bühler’s extrusion and processing equipment with Givaudan’s latest culinary facilities and its world-leading expertise in flavour, taste, ingredient, and product development.

Equipped with a pilot scale wet and dry extruder, a state-of-the-art product development kitchen, storage facilities, meeting amenities and a viewing area where visitors may tour the 400-square-meter facility and attend live demonstrations, the centre is facilitated with the end-to-end process of plant-based protein production in mind.

Businesses will also benefit from support across the co-creation process, from raw material selection to product development and research, to application, flavour science, extrusion, and consumer testing. At the centre, patrons can develop top-quality products appropriate for Asian culinary applications at scale. The facility can produce up to 40 kilogram of plant proteins per hour and features dry extrusion, as well as a newer wet extrusion technology that provides a fibrous structure more akin to muscle, and higher protein content in comparison to dry extruded products.

Monila Kothari, APAC president, Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing states- “We are proud to be part of a partnership that will contribute towards a sustainable food future for Singapore and the APAC region. Through the Protein Innovation Centre, we aim to create an ecosystem that supports start-ups and food businesses in an environment of co-creation. The centre will provide them access to the expertise, networks and technology required to create authentic plant-based protein alternatives that meet consumer needs and expectations.”

Kothari further said- “By bringing flavour solutions that are vegetarian, vegan, plant-based and natural, as well as technologies such as wet extrusion to Singapore and the region, we are helping to make plant-based foods more delicious, authentic, and accessible to business and consumers. We are excited to open our centre in Singapore, a country that is a hot bed for foodtech innovation.”

Ian Roberts, chief technology officer at Bühler informed- “Great tasting and sustainable protein alternatives are an important contributor to feeding 10 billion people sustainably by 2050. The changes that need to happen to our protein value chains prior to that are so deep, they can only be achieved if the various partners of the food ecosystem start working together today. The Protein Innovation Centre that we open today with Givaudan at the core of Southeast Asia’s vibrant food ecosystem, is a step towards achieving our vision of a collaborative and sustainable future of food. The Protein Innovation Centre will not only enable the development of more plant-based protein products across Asia, it will also ensure delicious products can be scaled to the production volumes required to create a positive environmental impact on our food chains.”