Stronger emphasis on natural functionality

ALTHOUGH the company started out as a small Dutch coal mining company in 1902, DSM has been able to grow exponentially through innovation and acquisitions. Today it is a global leader in health, nutrition, and materials. At Fi Asia 2014 in Jakarta, we learned about DSM Nutritional Products from its Marketing Director for Human Nutrition and Health in Asia Pacific, James Bauly.

James Bauly, Marketing director,  Human Nutrition and Health in Asia Pacific, DSM Nutritional Products

At the trade show, DSM presented three recently launched ingredients. The health-focused natural products are a high concentrate non-fish omega-3, an olive extract, as well as an oat beta-glucan.

Says Mr Bauly, "The way we are bringing these products into the market is to work with customers on co-developing the final product which contains the selected ingredient. We do so by increasingly leveraging our regional nutrition innovation facilities. We also work intensively with customers on building awareness in the market, advising customers on how to position consumer communication. So we're very involved in the whole value chain with our customers."

Asia-Pacific is a very important region for the company, according to Mr Bauly. From experience, he believes that Japan and South Korea are very innovative, relatively eager to adapt new products, and very interested in nutritional supplements and functional foods. The market in Australia and New Zealand reflect quite similarly to certain European markets. However he explains that the focus is as much on the emerging markets in the region, as on these more developed markets.

"The reason we're exhibiting in Indonesia is it's one of our key markets – it's very important in terms of size of population, and pace of development, says Mr Bauly. "If you look at the data, you'll see that the food and beverage segments are fast growing in Indonesia – between 5-10% annually. So obviously it's a big focus area for us. It's a very large and dynamic population of consumers and a key economy in ASEAN, and of course Indonesia is looking to export business as well."

Nutrition for all
On a higher level, part and parcel of working in countries that are emerging is working to ensure that everyone has access to nutrition. It is DSM's vision to improve the nutrition of all consumers – regardless of whether they are very well informed consumers in big cities with high disposable incomes, or part of less advantaged communities in rural areas.

"We're interested in improving nutrition for everyone in the pyramid and we will continue to do that by focusing on bringing nutritional solutions to the market through our diverse partners, which include food and beverage and dietary supplement companies, as well as public sector organizations and institutions" he says.

Natural functionality
The market has changed in a way that means the conversation isn't limited only to ingredients. Although micronutrient ingredients like vitamins and natural lipids are core business for DSM, these ingredients, Mr Bauly believes, should always be regarded as part of a total nutritional solution, which includes taste, texture and other key attributes.

Another area in which the market has changed is the shift towards ‘naturalness' "It is one of the trends that everyone agrees on," says Mr Bauly. "Whichever trend mapping or industry expert that you ask, almost all of them will say that natural functionality is one of the big trends right now. Indeed as we go through product development and launching new ingredients, we are very conscious of this trend. These three new ingredients that we're launching are all natural source ingredients."

When moving towards ‘naturalness' it is important also not to lose sight of functionality - ingredients which have added health benefits. This, Mr Bauly says, can be life changing for those at the base of the pyramid who don't have adequate access to nutritional foods.

"An example [of this application] would be rice or noodles which also contain vitamins," says Mr Bauly. "The main challenge in nutrition, is making sure that everyone has access to it. Staples like rice and noodles are great vehicles for micronutrients. So I think we'll see more and more developments in that space."

Moving towards supporting this greater good, comes with educating the public about nutrition as well as innovating and marketing new products.

"We need a very close relationship with our customers, and also other stakeholders in the nutrition industry," he says. "We're deeply rooted in science and everything that we do connects back to science. From a leadership position, it's part of our responsibility to advocate the science behind good nutrition."