DKSH opens bakery and confectionery innovation centre in Thailand

21-Jun-2011 - Last updated on 22-Jun-2011 at 11:29 GMT

DKSH Holdings Ltd, the Swiss market expansion services group, has invested in a new innovation centre in Thailand as part of an initiative to introduce new concepts and ingredients to the local confectionery and bakery industry.

According to a statement issued last week, the new centre in Thailand is the sixth facility it has opened at its Bangkok site, and one of 18 innovation centres it runs in Europe, Asia and North America.

The centre has been set up under the aegis of DKSH’s Business Unit Performance Materials, which sources, develops, markets, and distributes specialty chemicals and food ingredients to business partners in the specialty chemicals, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and personal care industries.

Seraina Peters, communications manager for the business unit, said that Thailand was chosen for this centre as it has a huge market for confectionery and bakery applications, and is also a good hub to serve customers and suppliers in the whole of South East Asia.

“We are looking at existing multinational and local customers who would like to develop new recipes or test their products on new ingredients as well as bakery, confectionery, ice cream, filling & fruit preparation producers, and catering firms,” said Peters.

According to Peters, the centre will offer product and process development services and supplier technology under current Thai Food and Drug Administration regulations.

These would be offered for ingredients like flour mixes, grains, egg powder, egg & milk replacers, sweeteners, sugar alcohol, cocoa & cocoa replacers, stabilisers, flavour, fruit and herb extracts, fruit and cream filling, acidity, preservatives and functional ingredients, such as vitamins, minerals, Omega 3 and collagen, said Peters.

“The new innovation centre has available an electric oven for baking with precise heat, a proofing cabinet for automatic temperature and humidity control for bread applications,” she added.

The centre would also offer an ice cream maker for blending with capacity up to five litres per batch, and a mixer and kneader for blending diverse bakery applications, according to Peters.

On the question of staffing, Peters said the centre would employ highly trained local staff and not expat staff.