“As a leader in the tomato industry, we are committed to providing our customers with the highest-quality, most innovative products and serving as an extension to their operations with meaningful support tools and resources,” said Christoph Rudolf, president US, Olam Spices & Vegetable Ingredients. “Our Global Tomato Innovation Center is the nerve center for enhancing and evolving our tomato business and adding value to our customers’ businesses.”

Equipped with what is described as a state-of-the-art kitchen and staffed with R&D resources and food technologists, the Olam Global Tomato Innovation Center is designed to create new developments in product, process, packaging and nutrition of tomato goods, Olam notes. The Olam Innovation Team will work with global customers to create value for their specific applications and needs. To lead the Olam innovation efforts, Siva Subramanian joins the Olam Spices & Vegetable Ingredients team as vice president of Research & Development and Quality from Olam’s global headquarters in Singapore.

The center is consistent with the company’s commitment to sustainability, Olam explains. It houses Olam’s T.A.S.T.E (thermally accelerated short-time evaporation) evaporator, which significantly reduces tomato exposure to heat, reduces resource and emissions footprint and emits three tons less CO2 per 100,000 lbs. of paste produced. 

From the July 20, 2011, Prepared Foods' Daily News.