Kerry Group

Did you know that most of the world’s leading food, beverage and pharmaceutical companies have visited Kerry’s Global Innovation Centre in Naas since it opened in 2015. Many of us will have driven past the 260,000 sq. ft. building along the M7, but how many of us have wondered what actually happens at Kerry’s Global Innovation Centre in Naas?

The campus is situated on 28-acres and is home to over 800 of Kerry’s sustainable nutrition experts, working to solve the latest challenges facing the food and drinks industry as consumers become ever more discerning about what they’re eating and how it’s made. Since 1972, Kerry Group’s 50-year history has been one of constant evolution. Kerry is now considered to be the world leader in sustainable nutrition – this means that it cocreates with its customers to produce food and beverage products that are tastier, healthier and better for our planet. Indeed, today over one billion people across the world consume products that have a Kerry solution included in it and by 2030, the company aims to increase this to two billion people.

This year, Kerry is celebrating its 50th anniversary and in 1972 the company was founded in an age of new possibility – a time of huge social, cultural and technological change – and its founders driven by creating a better opportunity for their local communities and region. From the outset with its roots in diary, the business was a disrupter in the market. Competing against established coops, Kerry’s dairy farmers had to look at things a different way, taking new approaches such as extracting protein powder from whey when no others in Ireland were. Today, the focus is delivering sustainable nutrition that is delicious – leading the market in areas such as preservation, fermentation and plant-based proteins. deliver sustainable nutrition solutions that are good for people and the planet. Nowhere is that seen more than at the Naas Innovation Centre,” says Thomas Ahlinder, Chief Executive Officer of Kerry Europe. “Here, our customers can access and experience first-hand Kerry’s complete breadth and depth of technologies, scientific research, innovation and applications expertise across food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets.”

Kerry’s Global Innovation Centre in Naas is at the heart of Kerry’s success, allowing the business to offer its customers the certainty of expert partnership and speed to market in today’s everchanging consumer landscape. A relentless spirit of innovation seeks to replace every product with the next, better thing and across its wide-ranging portfolio, the business’ commitment to sustainable nutrition means it prioritises four primary areas of: food protection and preservation; taste; plant-based foods; and proactive health.

Consumer tastes and demand have evolved dramatically in the past few years, shaped largely by millennials and younger consumers’ increased interest in how food and beverages are made and the credentials of the organisations that make them. This consumer is demanding a number of things from today’s food and drink brands.

They want a product that tastes brilliant and authentic – Kerry’s bread and butter with its ‘from food’ heritage making it a market leader in savoury and dairy flavours. The business has one of the largest global teams of taste experts across divisions of flavourists, sensory scientists, analytical chemists and manufacturing specialists with the simple combined goal of creating food that people want to consume. Its teams align their unique skills to create taste solutions that are recognised as best-in-class for savoury, dairy and sweetness.

Still, for today’s consumers taste isn’t enough. They also want what they’re eating or drinking to give them some physical benefit, enhancing their immunity or bulking up muscle. Through the work of Kerry’s globally recognised Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute, the business is providing consumers with science-backed nutrition to support their health and wellness for a fuller life. Its recent acquisitions of Biosearch Life and Natreon have supported Kerry in becoming a world leader in probiotics for women’s health. Its pioneering work in developing the BC30 probiotic means that customers who are used to finding probiotics in traditional formats such as yoghurt can now enjoy them in a much wider range of functional products, including hot teas, that fit into their daily routines and dietary preferences.

For customers’ food to reach the consumer’s plate at all it needs to have come from the right place. Consumers are looking to the origin of ingredients and asking that they are sourced close to where the product is made and consumed, raising the importance of provenance across the industry’s offerings. Kerry’s locallyled approach to supply chains has been at the heart of its strategy since 1972. This has enabled the business to maintain its focus on the strong relationships that are so crucial to its innovation of sustainable nutrition at pace and at scale. In entering new territories, rather than imposing previous ways of working, the business has built relationships with local suppliers, working collaboratively and supporting them with education investment to improve the efficiency of their production.

Underpinning all of this is the desire for truly sustainable nutrition. Kerry’s approach is core to everything the business does and for decades Kerry has been enhancing the nutritional profile of its customers’ products. Now, its innovation has turned to enabling customers to improve the impact of their products by reducing carbon emissions, food waste or water usage. Derived from Kerry’s strong, global heritage in plant extraction – its Tastesense™ flavours allow the creation of beverages with the same sweetness as regular products but up to 30% less sugar. A Life Cycle Assessment determined the full environmental impact of the products: a 20% reduction in carbon emissions, 30% reduction in water, and 30% reduction in calories versus sugar. To put this in perspective, if Tastesense™ was used on all European cola products, it would remove 68 billion cubes of sugar; the annual carbon emissions of nearly 30,000 cars; the volume of water used by 11 billion people showering for a year; and the same number of calories burned during 1200 billion hours of cycling. This is just one product in one region – demonstrating the scope of impact of Kerry’s offering on the industry.

The business has always aimed for gold, discovering new opportunities for its customers that will expand the horizons of consumers.

The Naas Innovation Centre is one of excellence – delivering tomorrow’s solutions today. Here, Kerry is driving the industry forward whether through developing new plant-based solutions to feed the fastest growing cities in the world or rapid advancements in food preservation to play its part in confronting the global issue of food security. Importantly, the centre in Naas can bring new products to market in a matter of weeks allowing customers to evolve their products to be the first to meet the evolving needs of today’s discerning customers.