The new lab will assist customers throughout the development process, from proto-cepts to larger scale samples.

With more than 10 new laboratories, GCI’s S.M.A.R.T. Center focuses on developing custom flavors and colors, as well as extracts, flavor modifiers, and ingredient enhancers.

This facility opened November 1, 2018, and houses Comax’s administration, sales and customer service teams. Strategically located in Shanghai, this facility is committed to better serve Comax’s Chinese and Asian Pacific regional customers.

The board of directors elected Brian Smith to serve as president and COO, effective Jan. 1, 2019. He will report to James Quincey, the company’s CEO. Smith is a 21-year Coca-Cola veteran who currently serves as president of the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) group.

Most recently, Slavtcheff served as vice president, R&D for Campbell Snacks and International. Prior to that he was vice president, R&D for the Global Biscuits and Snacks division, a position he has held since 2015.

The presentation dove deep into the ways consumers are attempting to avoid sugar in their diets. Efforts include drinking water instead of caloric beverages; eliminating certain foods and drinks from their diet; removing table sugar from food and drinks; utilizing nutrition fact labels to find products with less sugar; and using low-calorie sweeteners to substitute sugar.

Seven-times the size of its existing facility, the Innovation Center supports the company’s Rapid & Relentless Innovation initiative, the goal of which is to continuously iterate the company’s products until they are indistinguishable from their animal protein equivalent.

The Application Center features a variety of versatile bench-top scale and pilot scale equipment that can be used alone or in combination, giving BENEO the ability to cover a wide range of applications.

AAK, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high value-adding specialty vegetable fats and oils, officially opened its new innovation center last Thursday, March 2. The facility, named “AAKtion Lab,” is located at the company’s US headquarters in Edison, N.J., and will be the flagship application lab for the company’s co-development process.

In this edition, “Food for Thought” talks with Lynn Waldman, Little Lady Foods’ director of research and development. Little Lady Foods, Elk Grove Village, Ill., is a national supplier of frozen premium pizzas, sandwiches and hand-held items for private label, foodservice and contract customers.