Bert de Vegt, VP Food Protection & Preservation, Kerry
What are your expectations for next year, keeping in mind the legacy of 2022, but also the current challenges?
We have reframed our proposition to hero how we are adding value to the industry and consumer food supply, this is twofold, we are either aiding NPD and reformulation for:
- greater final value to the consumer with added benefits versus cost, or
- unlocking efficiencies to allow product cost to stabilise despite price increases of many raw materials
We have leaned on the breadth of our portfolio, with three propositions in bakery across calcium propionate, calcium vinegar salts and natural ferments, each with a distinct value to the shelf-life extension and bakery flavour markets and associated price points. They protect freshness and reduce waste through anti-moulding which is key to ensuring products reach consumers at their best and deliver nutrition instead of ending up as food waste.
Where did the growth opportunities come from and what is the most important lesson you have learned in recent times?
Growth opportunities have come from solving problems for the industry. Adding even a single extra shelf-life day for certain large-scale bakeries can unlock huge savings with a positive knock on for retailers and consumers.
What do you consider to be the most valuable asset you have in 2023 as a company?
Our people are without a doubt our most valuable asset. We are globally connected and locally led. Our people have a passion for the food industry and a shared vision of creating a world of sustainable nutrition.
As part of your growth strategy, how do you prioritize your investments versus your R&D efforts?
We learn from the past and let that inform the lens through which we look at market dynamics to plan our future investments and innovation priorities.
Food waste elimination is our compass, we keep very close to the latest research on shelf-life extension, upcycling, and are harvesting the learning and expertise from our acquired businesses and creating synergies with our innovation pipeline to allow us to deliver innovations to the market that can deliver extra shelf-life days as well as new digitization of data to help the market prioritise food waste elimination through extra shelf-life days. A recent example is the Kerry Food Waste Estimator.
Which are the most important drivers of change for your business in 2023? How do you plan to prepare for them?
Our passion for food waste elimination is driving sustainable change in our business but also for the wider industry. We are calling for industry collaboration and see this sparking an amazing culture capable of great change.
We expect the natural baking trend to continue to grow in 2023 and we are preparing for that by expanding our manufacturing network and associated capacity to cater for that additional growth.
What would you like to see happening in 2023 for your stakeholders and business environment (in terms of policy, regulations, and market) in order for your business to thrive more?
In emerging markets, we see the consumption of European-style industrial breads is rising. In this climate we would like to see ingredient solutions that can extend shelf life and protect freshness in those elevated temperatures. We see more of a shift from traditional breakfasts to Western breakfasts where industrial sliced bread is playing a more integral part of their daily consumption. I would like to see policy and the industry learning from the huge volumes of bread wasted elsewhere in the world and building this industry for a sustainable future that makes responsible use of the planet’s resources to feed the maximum number of people.