Novonesis unveils the latest in nutritional biosolutions at first Capital Markets Day since merger

19 Jun 2024 --- Novonesis held its first Capital Markets Day since the merger of Chr. Hansen and Novozymes. In London, UK, the full management team talked to investors, analysts and the media about the company’s biosolutions for F&B, human and planetary health, as well as ongoing R&D, operations, strategy and financials.

Nutrition Insight attended the event on June 18 and spoke with one of the panelists, Jacob Vishof Paulsen, executive VP of F&B biosolutions at Novonesis, about key trends and objectives.

“Our aim is to provide confidence that we are on the right track after four months since the conception of Novonesis and to provide comfort that we have secured business continuity with our customers. We have the final integration. Our financials are well on track to deliver on the commitments we have with all the investors,” Paulsen asserts. 

“We would also like to provide some excitement about what we do. The F&B portfolio we are sitting on and our two complementary technology bases offer a strong value proposition to customers and the ability to address even more challenges than before for both consumers and producers, and the opportunity to accelerate growth.” 

F&B biosolutions
At the main event, Paulsen presented how Novonesis’ F&B biosolutions are contributing to supporting healthier lives for consumers around the world. 

He detailed what is in the company’s “biology toolbox” and how it delivers a high strategic value to customers. 

Jacob Vishof Paulsen, executive VP of F&B biosolutions at Novonesis (Image credit: Novonesis).“We are fortunate with our core businesses of baking and dairy, fermented meat applications and beverages. Every day, more than a couple of billion people consume something with a Novonesis ingredient. We are already exceptionally relevant regarding ingredients used around the world, and here we have this unique value proposition that we are biology only,” he tells us.

Paulsen’s presentation explained that the company’s newly combined biosolutions portfolio of bacteria, yeast, probiotics, enzymes and proteins deliver customers and consumers value by improving products’ texture, health benefits, safety and shelf life, taste, appearance and label. 

“In our core categories — bread and yogurt — we have reached a point over the last 20 years where we have helped producers reach more of what the consumers are looking for. And they’re looking for simpler, less complicated labels. They’re looking for health improvements and a better sustainability footprint. They’re looking for more affordability, particularly in emerging markets, and then none of them is going to compromise texture and taste. We can do that.”

The combination of product and process impact achieved through the company’s biosolutions facilitates strategic value, namely quality, productivity and sustainability while decreasing cost by 1 to 5% depending on the complexity of the product recipe. 

“Think of bread and yogurt today. Most of the ideal products are raw materials. These are either wheat or milk, and it’s all about biology creating the ideal product. This is where we really help the consumers on the one hand, getting those better products, and then also the producers to work on better sustainability and footprint cost optimizations for them.”

Speaking to us, Paulsen also discusses the growing opportunities in the plant-based space. “The journey we have had with yogurt or bread, we can have with the plant-based category, where a sustainable raw material base is converted only with biology into a great-tasting, affordable food product.”

“We are not fully there yet from a technology perspective, and neither are the producers, but we believe that right now, by combining the strength of these two legendary complementary portfolios of enzymes and microbes, we can make a bigger innovative unlock of that industry. There is a lot for us to gain from the existing portfolio, but in particular, we see these combinations across the two legacy companies.”

Waste solutions
Novonesis’ biosolutions also improve value through process impact by increasing yields, ensuring raw material flexibility, and decreasing waste, energy and water usage. 

“One of the things in our core I’m proud of is tackling the major challenge in food waste reduction. Imagine that around 25% of yogurt in the Western world is wasted today. We have been on a journey the last eight years developing new technology — bio protection — that we came to the market with,” Paulsen explains. 

“We have helped reduce food waste in yogurt alone by one million tons, which is equivalent to the total French yogurt production in one year. So we are making a meaningful contribution to the world.” 

Consumers worldwide are looking for for simpler, less complicated labels, says Paulsen.He adds that the same goes for bread, where multiple innovations developed over the last 25 years have secured an even better, high-quality bread with a longer shelf life. “That means that we have saved as much bread as if you pile it up on top of each other, and it can go all the way to the moon and back more than ten times.” 

“Within the core of our application are some of the big categories that we still see as relevant for the future of consumption. We have plenty to go and create value and growth in those categories.”

He adds that there will soon likely be ten billion people on the planet, reinforcing the need for a more sustainable footprint of food production.

Emerging markets
Paulsen asserts that food security and global health are very important for Novonesis. “If you look at the emerging world, where more consumers will arrive, it’s so important that the raw materials there are safe for the consumers and that they are not wasted in the manufacturing process.”

“If you consider Africa, India and China, the consumer level of waste is very low. Waste comes from the production process. So there we can provide help in the food value chain, to get more out of the land use, for example.”

He explains that Novonesis can transform raw materials to ensure they can be processed with biology only to extend their shelf life so the materials can be brought to more consumers. As part of this process, the company also adds health components, such as the reduction of sugar and salt and the addition of probiotics. 

“This is high up on our agenda, to help that growing population in the world get a better security of food supply,” he states.

“Novonesis stands out with its biology only specialization. In the F&B space, we have by far the deepest application knowledge and the strongest network of more than 1,000 F&B experts around the world. They are very close to the customers.” 

He further details that the production and customer expectations for food products vary widely across the countries, “this is why you need to have experts just next to them to understand what they’re looking for and help them also via our application centers.”

“We have 27 application centers that can do prototyping together with the customers and help them implement the solutions at their production sites. That is something that really sets us apart from many of the customers, and they also come back and tell us that we are their number one strategic supplier because we have the toolbox.”

“We have the ability, without a unique supply system, to get the products through them, and we have experts who can help them implement the solutions in their specific production setting,” concludes Paulsen. 

By Milana Nikolova