Kerry opens food innovation hub
6 Oct 2015
Kerry Group has opened a €100m (£74m) global technology and innovation centre in Ireland.
The global food processing company, which is based in Ireland, specialises in ingredients and flavours used in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.
Its first manufacturing plant was commissioned in Listowel, Ireland in 1972, and the company now manufactures a wide range of technology-based ingredients, flavours and functional ingredients.
The new global technology and innovation centre is located in the Millennium Business Park, Naas, and will accommodate 800 research, product commercialisation, business development and support staff, with a further 100 jobs to be created next year.
Irish agriculture minister, Simon Coveney, said: “The completion of this facility, a €100m project, is the largest single investment in food innovation ever by a company in Ireland.”
Kerry Group said the centre was built to provide customers with access to the breadth and depth of technologies, scientific research, innovation and applications expertise across food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets.
It will also serve as the group’s global centre of excellence for nutrition to promote greater product differentiation in the marketplace with “unrivalled speed to market,” the company said.
“Today’s consumer markets and changing food and beverage consumption trends, call for renewed vigour in product innovation and development of nutritious product solutions and menu offerings,” said Stan McCarthy, Kerry Group chief executive.
