A scientist at FutureBites with a plate of salted egg CulinaPlant chunks. — The Straits Times
SINGAPORE: Swiss-Dutch nutrition, health and beauty company dsm-firmenich unveiled two innovation and smart production facilities on Sept 18, one focusing on plant-based food innovation and the other on perfume production.
Hoping to leverage Singapore’s position as a multicultural melting pot of flavours, FutureBites is dsm-firmenich’s first dedicated facility and regional hub for research and development into plant-based food.
It will improve speed to market and develop customised food solutions to cater to different cuisine and taste preferences in Asia.
It will also work with clients to test and validate food products for the market.
The pilot-scale facility in Tuas will also allow experts from different fields and countries in Asia to collaborate and ensure that the company’s products remain relevant to the Asian market.
One of its products is salted egg CulinaPlant Chunks, which are textured plant-protein chunks. FutureBites also has a plant-based smoothie called Protopia Eco Boost.
Dsm-firmenich’s products include dietary supplements, vitamins and perfumes.
“Singapore was chosen as the location for the first FutureBites studio as it’s a very multicultural country,” said Timothy Elisafan, vice-president in Asia-Pacific for the taste texture and health division at dsm-firmenich.
“Food and flavours are very regional – they vary across countries. Because Singapore is so multicultural, we are able to get people from different cultures and countries that can help us validate the accuracy of our food’s taste and appearance,” said Elisafan.
He added: “It’s also easier to attract experts into Singapore compared with other markets – the talent pool here is also richer compared with other countries.”
Health is now a big trend in food in Asia and the world, said Elisafan.
“After the Covid-19 pandemic, people now also want to have more indulgent food, like snacks, ice cream, chocolate.
“So food products are now focusing more on combining health and indulgence,” he said.
“When people see a claim on a food product that it has less sugar or salt, people assume it won’t taste good – we aim to make sure that healthy food still tastes good, so people can eat indulgent food without guilt.”
Dsm-firmenich said the FutureBites facility is part of its continued investment in Singapore to work on solutions for plant-based proteins, following the opening of its Culinary and SmartProteins Innovation Centre in Tuas in 2021.
Some of the job roles required for the facility include food designers, flavour designers and engineers.
The company also launched a new perfume facility on Sept 18 that will function within the company’s existing perfumery manufacturing plant, which opened in Tuas in 1990.
The new facility will improve manufacturing and production. It also houses the company’s only Asia-Pacific production site for its fragrance technology that makes fragrances long-lasting.
The Perfumery Automated Compounding Encapsulation (Peace) Facility and FutureBites make up an investment of close to S$30mil in Singapore, to strengthen dsm-firmenich’s research and development capabilities in food innovation, scale manufacturing capacities and develop a stronger base of regional talent.
The Peace facility spans 11,000 sq m.
Dsm-firmenich has 600 employees and 80 scientists and innovation experts across six offices and facilities in Singapore. — The Straits Times/ANN
