Kalsec: Adding Spice to Food, and Beer, for Three Generations

BY KATIE WHALEN, PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST, KALSEC

From the 3700-block of West Main Street, one can see a pristine, white 3-rail horse fence, hear occasional barks of dogs, and smell a hint of rosemary or white pepper on the wind.

Very few Kalamazoo natives could tell you what was happening at this 150-acre site, until a 1-ton boulder engraved with the company name and address was installed at the entrance in 2018.

The sights are remnants from a former quarter-horse farm; the sounds come from the employees’ doggy daycare, and the smells come from the spices and herbs being extracted by Kalsec, Inc.

Kalsec crafts natural spice and herb flavor extracts, colors, antioxidants, and advanced hop products for the food and beverage industry. Kalsec products are translated into easyto-use liquids ideal for most formulations: salsa, dressings, sauces, yogurts, candies, snacks, baked goods, beer, and meat. These extracts are of the highest quality and consistency available. Kalsec is the only company whose expertise and resources encompass a full line of natural, innovative products and solutions to meet the challenges faced by food and beverage manufacturers throughout the industry and around the world.

He represented the Third Congressional District, which included Kalamazoo County, in the U.S. House of Representatives in the early 1960s.

Todd family roots in the area go back even further to the late 1800s, when Albert May Todd started the peppermint and spearmint oil business in Southwest Michigan. Today, third generation Todd family members lead Kalsec in its mission to be private and sustainable for 100 years.

Over the past 60 years, Kalsec has grown into a global company - selling its products in more than 70 countries directly and through channel partners. In 1995, Kalsec opened an office in the United Kingdom, where it provides local support to the European market with sales, sampling, applications and warehousing capabilities. Located in Mildenhall, United Kingdom, this facility continues to grow to meet the needs of the European market. Then in February 2010, Kalsec opened an office in Shanghai, China to serve its customers in the Asian market similarly.

The company was founded in 1958 by Paul H. Todd Jr. as the Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Company. Todd was a respected businessman and former Congressman.

Kalsec Southwest, located near Denver City, Texas, specializes in the cultivation, harvest, dehydration and extraction of paprika, rosemary and carrot, as well as specialty herbs and spices. At this location extracts are expeller pressed into a line of solvent-free products that are ideal for the growing “clean label” initiative.

While Paul Todd Jr. found a way to create value by applying chemistry to food, the foundations of Kalsec are still deeply rooted in biology. With an entirely natural product line, Kalsec’s scientists rely on the inherently diverse repertoire of biochemical reactions carried out by plants to fill its production pipeline with brilliant colors, hoppy bitterness, and recordbreaking spiciness.

For several decades, Kalsec has been engaged in a breeding program of its chili pepper populations. Year after year, natural selection has been used to select plants that produce high color in the form of carotenoids, or high pungency from capsaicin. This effort has produced the most pungent, machine-harvestable pepper in the world.

In addition to chili extracts, Kalsec is a leading brewing industry supplier of advanced hop products that provide bitterness addition, light stability and foam enhancement.

In 2015, Kalsec established the Kalsec Center for Sustainable Brewing Education, a unique collaborative effort between itself, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and Western Michigan University.

Beginning Fall 2018, Kalsec acquired laboratory space at the Western Michigan University School of Medicine’s Innovation Center where scientists are conducting research to produce our first natural preservative offerings for the prevention of food spoilage. Scientists carry out challenge studies in model food, such as growth of the human pathogen Salmonella in poultry and observe how the addition of natural extracts and essential oils prevent that growth. This product line will not only prevent human illness but help to reduce the 160 billion pounds of food thrown away in the United States.

KALSEC.COM