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World Class Talent Driving Innovation at Bunge’s New Facility

  • February 20, 2020

Bunge, a global agtech and food solutions company, recently expanded with a new Creative Solutions Center in St. Charles, Missouri. However, despite its state-of-the art facilities, equipment and technology, the driving force in innovation has been the world-class talent the company has found in Missouri.

“The most important capability of the Bunge Creative Solutions Center is its team of food science and research professionals,” said Brian Anderson, vice-president of global milling innovations and R.&D. for Bunge. “They were specifically selected because they know our customers’ processes in all categories from bakery and culinary to snacks and cereals.”

The 40,000 sq. ft. facility opened in 2018 and includes a culinary kitchen, bakery applications lab and five pilot plants. It is located 10 miles from Bunge’s North American headquarters, and the soon-to-be global headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.

The facility includes a scaled-down version of an oil plant capable of creating shortenings, oils and other products used by food manufacturers, bakeries and restaurants. The center also has an extrusion pilot plant to test snack food and cereal applications made from milled grain products.

“This full range of capabilities helps customers with velocity to market,” said Anderson. “In particular, the pilot plants allow customers to do small batch production to increase the speed between product concept and commercial application.”

The center also houses bakery, analytical and sensory laboratories to ensure that test products meet the nutritional, performance and taste attributes required for a customer’s finished product.

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