Cargill One, which opened last week in Shanghai, brings expertise across broad areas of food, including animal protein, edible oils, sweeteners, starches, cocoa and texturising solutions. From it, Cargill intends to bring its food development services closer to its customers across many of its product lines.
It will initially focus on taste and flavours, food ingredients and menus that appeal to changing consumer demand.
“Product innovation is one of the cornerstones of our evolution from a grain warehouse to a global leader in food and agriculture over the past 151 years,” said Todd Hall, senior vice president of Cargill.
“We have multiple innovation centres around the world specialising in distinct food groups, such as animal protein, sweeteners, food texturisers, feed and such.”
Chinese diets and the way consumers view food are changing fast in the wake of rapid socioeconomic development. The centre will also be a platform for public education on food safety and nutrition.
“Cargill One … demonstrates the value that we place on China and our commitment to our customers here. I believe that in time, we will extend our service at Cargill One to other markets across Asia-Pacific,” Hall added.
As the “future of food”, the innovation centre will also help Cargill work closer with its customers in new ingredient development, said Chris Mallett, vice-president of R&D.
“It a window for us to better understand what consumers want today and tomorrow, and help our customers be ready with the food their consumers want in the future,” Mallett said.