Cargill expanded its collaborative product capabilities, especially for the baking industry, with the March opening of a new Product Innovation Center in Minneapolis. It allows bakery customers to collaborate directly with Cargill technology experts, working side-by-side. Its part of a network of Cargill bakery applications facilities located in North America (Atlanta; Portland, Ore.; Toronto) and Europe (Vilvoorde, Belgium).
The Product Innovation Center is staffed by a team of food scientists with more than 120 years of combined experience in grain-based products. Areas of Cargill bakery expertise include differentiated whole grain breads and sweet goods; healthy fats and oils products; high fiber applications; reduced calorie products with alternative sweeteners; and gluten-free baked goods.
The center focuses on new product development and R&D to provide solutions to complex technical challenges, said Bill Atwell, Bakery Category Technical Leader, who leads a team with a wide range of experience and education in the food and cereal science, engineering and culinary areas. According to Atwell, the launch of Cargills Product Innovation Center reflects the companys continuing investment in building its bakery category capabilities.
