Cargill Health & Nutrition: Working With The Best Nature Has To Offer

Cargill, Minneapolis, MN, one of the largest privately-owned companies in the world, has a long, rich history in agriculture, particularly as a grain trader. During the past century, however, the company has worked tirelessly to ex­pand its reach and diversify its business. Today, Cargill’s roots stretch to hundreds of countries ar­ound the globe, where it provides a range of ingredients and services across several market channels.

Cargill’s involvement in the health and nutrition arena was initiated over 10 years ago when the company made a strategic decision to move into special product areas, one of which was nutraceuticals. The first business unit was aptly named Nutra­ceuti­cals, but after a change shortly thereafter to Health & Food Technologies, the unit name changed again last year to Health & Nutrition. The new name better reflects the products and services this unit is responsible for, including new ingredients like Truvia, a specialty sweetener based on stevia, which was launched in July as a tabletop product.

Truvia is the latest and greatest product from Cargill, which spent several years in development with Coca-Cola. The stevia plant that Truvia natural sweetener originates from has been used in South America for sweetening foods and beverages for more than 200 years. And though stevia has been commonly used to sweeten foods, it often contains a bitter aftertaste. The difference with Truvia, according to a Cargill press release, is rebiana, the best-tasting part of the stevia plant.

In other developments, Cargill caught a big break earlier this year when FDA expanded its fiber and heart health claim to include barley betafiber as an eligible source of soluble fiber. This means Barliv, Cargill’s branded barley fiber ingredient, can be used in a range of products at a dosage of at least 3 grams and carry a heart health claim. According to the company, it was instrumental in driving this health claim expansion.

Another ingredient that has performed well for the Health & Nutrition unit is CoroWise plant sterols, which were recently added to the Centrum Cardio line. “Centrum chose CoroWise as a point of differentiation,” said Pam Stauffer, market programs manager. “The CoroWise brand is focusing on health professional outreach. They are really looking for people who can meaningfully communicate the benefits of CoroWise and Centrum Cardio to patients.”

In February 2008, Cargill entered the omega 3 segment. “We have a competitive advantage in food applications in terms of stability and good taste,” said Ms. Stauffer. Car­gill’s omega 3 oil is tested for more than 200 contaminants and is available as Kosher.

Health and wellness continues to be a strong driver globally, according to Steve Snyder, vice president, Sales & Marketing. During the past decade, Cargill has made some significant ac­quisitions in an effort to bolster its ingredient portfolio and formulation capabilities in this regard. Some of the prominent deals sealed in the past few years include the acquisition Cerestar as well as Degussa’s flavor business. To Mr. Snyder, these additions were driven purely by consumer de­mand. “This was very much a consumer-focused endeavor. Our strategy was to try and find products or ingredients that consumers cared about in our customers’ products,” he said.

About the supplier’s role in the health and nutrition market going forward, Mr. Snyder commented, “I think this industry provides the cutting edge of innovation for major consumer brands. As the big companies continue to look outside their own operations for innovation, we’ll be there for them.”—R.W

Cargill Health & Nutrition
15407 McGinty Road West/MS 110
P.O. Box 9300
Wayzata, MN 55391
Telephone: 952-742-6080
Fax: 952-742-7573
E-mail: pam_stauffer@cargill.com
Website: www.cargill.com