Chr. Hansen Expands European Flavor Production Center

To enhance product range, efficiency and service to customers, Chr. Hansen has expanded its flavor production center in Denmark. The upgrade is a part of an overall plan to grow the flavor business making Chr. Hansen an innovative partner in the food industry.

“The expansion includes a set-up to produce enzyme modified dairy flavors that will give us 100% control over both the process and the time-to-market. Product development - in close collaboration with our customers - will be easier with a full-scale production centre in the neighbourhood,” said Steen Loendal, Executive Vice President, Chr. Hansen Flavor Division.

The Danish unit will be the flavor center for Europe. State-of-the-art equipment has been installed to ensure a high level of quality, flexibility and speed to market, and the center will play a major role in flavor creation, research and production for our future growth.

“This is the result of a desire to create one center that holds all dairy flavor knowledge in Europe. It supports well our strategy to develop and maintain close relationships with our customers and our ability to supply the market in the best and most flexible way - through innovative production technologies,” said Mr. Loendal.

Major Player

The center will be on the existing site in Graasten in the South-western part of Denmark.

The factory is already well known for its production of enzymes for the cheese industry, worldwide. The Dairy Flavor Production Centre has a new state-of-the-art production platform for fermented butter flavor, compounded dairy flavor, and enzyme modified dairy flavor. The plant is ISO22000, ISO9001, DS/OHSAS 18001 and ISO14001 certified and has the ability to deliver Kosher and Halal certified products.

"The upgrade of our Graasten facility is a logical progression for Chr. Hansen’s flavor business. Our ambition is to become a major player in the dairy flavor market. Creating this new platform in Denmark solidifies the foundation for our competitive edge in flavor R&D and opens new opportunities to broaden the product range and geographical coverage,” explained Mr. Loendal. The set-up has enabled us to offer a complete range of enzyme modified cheeses, creams and butter flavors.

Besides the centre in Denmark, Chr. Hansen has eight flavor production sites around the world, and regional dairy flavor development centres in South America, North America, and Europe.

In-house dairy expertise

The market for dairy-flavoured products is growing steadily and new exiting introductions have sent the world's food industry searching for new quality cheese flavors.

”Dairy flavors are a very successful and innovative business area. Therefore the major challenge will be to develop new and innovative products and solutions in close cooperation with our customers," said Steen Loendal.

Chr. Hansen has more than 130 years of experience within cultures and enzymes. The company has been a well-established worldwide leader within dairy ingredients since 1874 and boosts a solid and in-depth knowledge of the industry.

“The uniqueness of Chr. Hansen is our combined enzyme and fermentation technologies which allow us to create very specific dairy flavor profiles based on dairy ingredients,” concluded Steen Loendal.