Frutarom’s legacy health & nutrition business is being touted as a significant growth engine for the company, with no concerns that it may be offloaded amid the ongoing integration into International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF). This is according to Yoni Glickman, President of Natural Product Solutions at Frutarom. “There is a strong intention to continue to invest in the health & nutrition business. We see it as a significant growth engine for the company going forward,” he tells FoodIngredientsFirst at Vitafoods Europe this week.

It is now almost exactly one year since IFF’s takeover move for Frutarom was announced (the deal was finalized in October 2018). At the time, Glickman said that he was confident for the future of his business unit despite the lack of apparent correlation between IFF’s densely flavor focused portfolio and this part of Frutarom’s business. Frutarom Natural Solutions, which offers Flavor & Color, Food Protection and Health Benefits, still accounts for about 25 percent of the turnover of the Frutarom legacy business as a whole.Little has changed since the deal was closed for Glickman’s own unit. “We continue to operate as a business unit under IFF,” says Glickman. “From our perspective not much has changed except for the positive change that we see happening with greater access to CPG companies. The integration goes on in other areas. Parts of the Frutarom taste business have been incorporated into the IFF taste business as was expected,” he noted, however.

Glickman remains optimistic on the outlook. “I think we are doing the right things in terms of scientifically based natural ingredients. We are doubling down on our clinical capabilities. We are building a stronger clinical research team than what we already had in Israel. We have a robust clinical studies portfolio going forward. The great combination of great science, natural products, access to CPGs, ability to work in the functional foods space, all makes me optimistic,” he adds.

The merger has given the company greater opportunities to expand among larger CPG players and enjoy more growth in the Americas. Synergies between IFF’s taste modulation portfolio are providing significant benefits in product development. 

“So in the context of our work together with our colleagues at IFF, who are focused on some of the world’s largest CPGs, we are starting to also bring them Frutarom Health Solutions. This is something that CPGs are very interested in seeing what else we can bring to them in the health & nutrition space,” says Glickman. 

Bridging taste issues is key. “Together we can bridge the whole question of health ingredients, also within the taste area. IFF has great technologies around modulation to support us in the field of health. We have great scientifically backed health ingredients that may not necessarily taste that good,” he adds. “We are increasingly talking to our customers about a total solution, which brings into it the clinical side of things, the health ingredients and the flavors,” he notes.

Examples of collaboration from a taste masking perspective are already being noted. Frutarom recently entered a joint venture with small Israeli company Inno-Bev around WakeUp, which can be taken to the next level through flavor modulation. “Through the WakeUp operation, we are also working with IFF on taste modulation and bringing additional and seasonal flavors within that context,” says Glickman. Another example is masking work on the micro-encapsulated iron product AB-Fortis. “Out of all the iron products out there, this one has the least taste questions. But we also see the opportunity to bring it into other systems, including functional foods. So that is an exciting value proposition,” he notes.In terms of regional expansion, the merger has presented growth opportunities for the legacy Natural Product Solutions business, too. “From a Frutarom Health perspective, our traditional markets were more EMEA and Asia. We did have a US presence, but not as strong as it could have been. So we are greatly strengthened by the IFF access in North America and LATAM,” says Glickman. The US expansion had already been underway before their acquisition, however. “Unrelated to the acquisition by IFF, we focused ourselves on the US market over the last few years, with the acquisition of Grow Co. in 2016. A year ago we bought Enzymotec, which had a strong presence for PS (phosphatidylserine) in the US market. From our previous acquisition activities, the focus that we are placing on our US footprint and now obviously the IFF capabilities will strengthen our North American presence,” he says.

So has the patchwork that was Frutarom Health in itself been a challenge to no incorporate under an even bigger banner? Glickman notes that the company is succeeding in highlighting this broad banner at shows such as Vitafoods Europe, wher a wide portfolio was presented. “At Frutarom Health we focus on some of the key ingredients that came from the acquisitions. InFat is very important from the Enzymotec acquisition and we have AB-Fortis, even Fenulife was an acquisition we made from Acatris over a decade ago. We are integrating everything under the banner,” he concludes.

This week FoodIngredientsFirst also reported on Frutarom Savory Solutions’ (FAS) incorporation under the IFF banner. According to Gobert Tegelberg, Managing Director of FAS, the merger presents new global expansion opportunities, as well as technical synergies through the exposure to IFF’s aroma portfolio.