Five years and more than $30 million in the making, global food, feed, and nutraceutical ingredient innovator Kemin Industries threw open the doors of its new, 94,000 square foot worldwide company headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. The structure will serve as the lynchpin completing the company’s a five-year, $125.5 million overall investment in Kemin Des Moines facilities

More than 600 community leaders, employees, and other attendees were on hand for the official grand-opening ceremony on August 29. They were treated to a tour the new facility southeast of the city center, in advance of the scheduled January, 2018, move from its previous headquarters nearby. The new site will house the company’s 500-plus employees—one quarter of its total global workforce, serving customers in 120 countries.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Kemin President and CEO Chris Nelson, who holds a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics from Washington State University, inaugurated the new complex, with Dr. Nelson noting that the new headquarters complex is “more than a building—it’s an investment in providing the resources our team members need to move forward our company vision of improving the quality of life by touching half of the people of the world every day with our products and services.”

The event focused on the 56-year-old company’s history of science-based innovation in improving the quality, safety, and efficacy of food, feed and health-related product development. With manufacturing plants in Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, the US, and more than 80 other countries, Kemin has a portfolio of more than 500 specialty health, nutrition, and cosmeceutical ingredients for humans and animals.

A sampling of Kemin’s specialty ingredients includes its FloraGLO lutein, a carotenoid antioxidant for eye health derived from marigolds, and its BactoCEASE label-friendly, plant-derived food safety ingredient designed to protect meat and poultry products from foodborne pathogens and extend product shelf-life by delaying the growth of spoilage bacteria. Other natural antioxidant ingredients include its Fortium line of rosemary, acerola, green tea, and vitamin E ingredients for protecting foods and beverages from flavor and color degradation and extending shelflife.

Kemin’s food and nutrition technologies serve the beverage, dairy, confectionary, meat, and other prepared product industries, while supporting cognitive health, vision, and “Active wellness.”