Vitafoods 2023: Kerry, Gnosis by Lesaffre, Kaneka Nutrients and Divi’s Nutraceuticals on industry future

15 May 2023 --- The need for sustainable practices, equality in the industry and science and evidence-backed ingredients were revealed to be important industry trends at Vitafoods Europe in Geneva, Switzerland, this year. 

NutritionInsight speaks with leading professionals at Kerry, Gnosis by Lesaffre, Kaneka Nutrients Europe and Divi’s Nutraceuticals about how these trends will be met, how they might shape the future of the industry and we got a glimpse into the potential futures of the respective companies.

Strengthening sustainable solutions
During the Future of Nutrition Summit held by Vitafoods on May 8, Agathe Danjou, the global evolution and disruption strategy director at Danone Specialized Nutrition, highlighted that rising inequality, malnutrition and the effects of climate change will likely be major industry disruptors in the coming years.

Danjou’s presentation revealed four shifts that will need to be met in order to achieve “resilience to future shocks” such as those felt during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Thomas Hahlin Ahlinder, president and CEO of Kerry Europe.Two factors that must be met head-on are the “end of abundance” and the need for “fighting inequalities,” while understanding that as abundance decreases, inequality will rise.

“Sustainability is at the core of care and it’s actually underpinning everything we do and we look at sustainability from two lenses,” says Thomas Hahlin Ahlinder, president and CEO of Kerry Europe. 

“So it’s about sustainable nutrition in the way we express it and it’s about delivering more nutritious products to more people around the world without having a bigger impact and actually having less of an environmental impact.”

“Going forward in our strategy, it’s all about inspiring food and nourishing life – that is the underlying strategic intent. It’s about driving innovation with less impact on the environment, driving sustainability and innovation, following and meeting the demands of the consumers both today and tomorrow and driving more nutritious and functional, but well-tasting products.”

Marc Philouze, the general manager (GM) of Gnosis by Lesaffre agrees, outlining that sustainability’s place in the “four S’s” of the company, which are science, “because everything starts with science,” supporting sustainability and speed to ensure the fastest and safest possible products for the company’s customers.Marc Philouze, the general manager of Gnosis by Lessafre.

Standing with science
Kaneka Nutrients and Gnosis by Lesaffre also spotlighted the importance of science-backed health benefits in nutrients and ingredients for consumers.

“In the coming years, we will continue with our scientific work and very soon there will be a new publication in The Lancet on Ubiquinol,” says says Filip Van hulle, the GM at Kaneka Nutrients Europe. “A high dose product was used in collaboration with Tokyo University, so the scientific work is coming.” 

“We show these kinds of concepts to potential customers and they say, ‘oh, I was about to launch a product from stress, and I see you have some interesting data on Ubiquinol and stress,’ and we try to help brand holders introduce such products. We also think that more formats for Ubiquinol will become available.”

Philouze further commented on the predominance of science on exhibit throughout the show. 

Filip Van hulle, the general manager at Kaneka Nutrients Europe.“You know, if you walk around the floor, there’s different levels of science on display and I think, for us, it is at the core of what we need to do for the industry,” he elaborates. “Part of that is the trust we want to generate at the consumer level.”

“In the current context where consumers have to make hard choices about spending their money, they want to make sure they get the value of what they spend on dietary supplements. Trust comes from science and so we provide the science to our customers and in turn, our customers can be that brand based on science to gain the trust of the consumers.”

Promoting equality
Kerry further highlighted its commitment to fostering equality in the industry in the years to come and sponsored the Wo(men)’s Networking Lunch that took place at Vitafoods Europe on May 10.

“This is something we are truly delighted about,” says Ahlinder. “We are really proud to sponsor the Wo(men)’s Lunch, giving us a chance to actually connect with great female leaders in the industry and we are super proud because we have a big amount of amazing women in our organization and across every aspect of our DNA – research, development and application.”

“We truly understand that for consumers, as well as the needs of our customers, for them to have a chance to connect with the rest of the industry and all other fantastic female leaders is an opportunity for us as a business going forward.”Heinz Niggli, the senior vice president and GM at Divi’s Nutraceuticals.

“Face to Face” interactions
Heinz Niggli, the senior vice president and GM at Divi’s Nutraceuticals revealed that an ongoing trend within the industry will be the commitment to “face to face” fostering of relationships in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What we learned during the Covid situation is that we had this strong relationship with customers,” Niggli explains. “We knew them, we knew the face behind the name, and I believe the reason we went strong through the COVID phase was because we had that relationship.”

“If you know your customer by name and you know their face, it’s easy to talk to them on a TV screen. For us, this is very important that we use these trade shows to build these relationships and if it ever happens again, we know the right way to do it and it was only possible, in my opinion, because we had this relationship and we knew the people face to face.”

By William Bradford Nichols

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