Food ingredient suppliers are pushing the boundaries of green innovation as consumer and regulatory demand for F&B products that support planetary health heat up. Innova Market Insights data shows a 14% growth in F&B launches featuring ethical environmental claims from July 2019 to June 2024. 

Food Ingredients First speaks with two green innovators in German flavor and fragrance leader Symrise and fruit and vegetable ingredients supplier SVZ. We discuss some of the major challenges and opportunities in green innovation and explore current and emerging industry trends.

“Symrise has embedded sustainability aspects in its entire DNA,” says Dirk Neudorf, senior global marketing manager for Food & Beverage – Taste, Nutrition & Health.

“We have started several sustainability initiatives on the important topics of regenerative agriculture, secure sourcing strategies, lowering the carbon footprint of our products and designing more sustainable solutions right from the start in our R&D departments.”

“In addition to that, Symrise has committed to reaching several sustainability goals as a company, and we are working toward these in every part and position within our global setup.”

Symrise aims to achieve net zero through its Low Carbon Transition Plan by 2045 — five years before the UN Paris Agreement climate goal.

Sustainable food systems

By focusing on Footprint, Innovation, Sourcing and Care, the company links its economic goals to its responsibilities to the environment, employees and society.

Within Innovation, for example, it uses its ProtiScan tool to help its customers develop sustainable and tasty alternative proteins. It also uses assessment systems to increase regenerative agricultural practices and support secure sourcing.

“We execute all initiatives we initiated to address sustainability challenges on a level that already impacts the sustainability footprint Symrise is creating with its business. We start all initiatives with the intention to scale them up,” says Neudorf.

SVZ works in close collaboration with its partner growers, providing training and investing in the development of sustainable farming processes. The company has many active programs involving its farms in Spain, which include introducing water saving technologies, biodegradable mulching, alternative pest management techniques and carbon reduction initiatives.

“One of our sustainable farming priorities is finding a viable alternative to synthetic pesticides through our soil disinfection and health program,” says Silvi Navarrete, sustainability manager at SVZ.

“Soil disinfection is a form of microbiological control that involves increasing the number of ‘good’ microorganisms and/or their metabolites through irrigation, preventing plant diseases caused by soil pathogens. Our trials of this technique are showing great promise for our Spanish strawberry partner farms.”

Within its processing operations, SVZ invests in optimization to reduce its energy consumption. For example, in 2022, it acquired a new pasteurizer for its Belgium processing plant through a strategic investment initiative, The Supernova Project.

“It significantly increases the capacity of our aseptic puree filling line while reducing our heat consumption and consequently our CO2 emissions. In fact, we expect the new pasteurizer to lower our emissions by 19%. This step has been crucial in SVZ’s journey to decarbonization.”

SVZ’s efforts have been recognized with an EcoVadis Gold award — placing the company in the top 5% of environmentally responsible businesses in the F&B industry.

Obstacles to progress

For Neudorf, a major challenge — but also an opportunity — for the food industry is feeding a growing world population within the boundaries of the planet’s limited natural resources.

“We need to go beyond optimizing current projects and also think ahead,” he says. “For this reason, we started the Business Incubation Group within Symrise, exploring, incubating and accelerating different platforms and opportunities to find the best solutions for future challenges.”

“This focus means we are also looking into new, more sustainable raw materials and techniques, for example, for the production of alternative protein sources, to offer the most sustainable taste solutions.”

Sustainability in food production requires a multifaceted approach with commitments and initiatives that span the supply chain. SVZ takes a holistic approach to sustainable innovation, viewing all its projects as part of the “big picture.”

“Convincing other key players to join us is undoubtedly a challenge,” says Navarrete.

“However, we already have many valuable partnerships that allow us to collaborate on sustainability projects. A prime example of this is our work with Danone and BAFS, which aims to enhance water management and reduce plastic waste on strawberry farms using biodegradable mulching films. We want to grow this network of cooperation across the industry with the mutual effort exerted toward a common goal.”

Another challenge for fruit and vegetable ingredient suppliers like SVZ is that farmers are generally – and understandably – cautious about change as they take on high risks.

“When adopting more sustainable farming practices, the return on their investment may not be visible (in terms of yield and quality) in the short term,” explains Navarrete.

“Farmers shouldn’t bear this burden alone. Partners across the entire supply chain need to collaborate and invest the money and time needed to support the large-scale transition to more sustainable practices.”

This month, the European Commission authorized member states to pay higher advances of Common Agriculture Policy funds to farmers to alleviate liquidity issues and mounting economic pressures.

Industry evolution ahead

Climate change is becoming an increasingly important driver for innovation in the F&B industry. Meanwhile, “sustainability” has evolved beyond a buzzword.

“We can see rising consumer awareness and the need to heal the planet by making sustainable food choices and establishing truly climate-friendly habits. We have drawn these most important insights from our 2024 edition of the Symrise global consumer insight study trendscope,” says Neudorf.

“To answer consumer needs, green innovation will become an even more important and integral part of our business in the future.”

“The biggest opportunities for us as a solution provider for taste, health and nutrition we see is working together with innovative start-up companies to come up with the most sustainable and future-proof solutions, as well as using green chemistry and combining the best of nature with the best of science to answer future consumer needs.”

In the coming years, SVZ expects to see the rise of renewable energy sources and more efficient technologies, making it easier to reduce fossil fuel dependency. An important focus for the company’s future investments will be on the flexible control of electrical and thermal energy sources.

“In addition to supporting our innovation initiatives, this will help us confidently adapt to the changing availability and costs of energy systems that we have seen in recent years,” says Navarrete.

“Continuous optimization of processes across our operations is also fundamental to reach our sustainability goals, including evolving our facilities and practices to establish even more sustainable energy and water systems.”

This year, SVZ reached 74% sustainable sourcing for core ingredients in its supply chain, including strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, black and red currant, carrot, spinach, kale and red beet. The company’s goal is to achieve 100% sustainable core ingredients by 2030.

Innova Market Insights data indicates a 5% increase in F&B launches featuring ethical claims from July 2019 to June 2024. The bakery category led these launches, accounting for 13% of NPD, while meat substitutes saw the most significant growth, with a 14% increase over five years.