Irish food ingredients multinational Kerry Group has established a new biotechnology centre in Germany.
The hub in Leipzig will focus on the development of biotech solutions to increase efficiencies across its food, beverage, and pharma divisions.
New ways of overcoming ingredient scarcity will also be a key goal of the centre.
Kerry has developed its biotechnology capabilities in recent years, building a dedicated technology and manufacturing footprint through both acquisitions and investment.
The company said Leipzig was chosen for the new facility, because of the “exceptional biotechnology skills base and research cluster that has developed in the city”.
c-LEcta, acquired by Kerry in 2022 for its specialist capabilities in enzymes and biotechnology, was itself established in 2004 as a spin-out from the University of Leipzig.
The main activities that will be undertaken at the new facility include enzyme and strain identification and engineering, fermentation, and bioprocess development and scale-up, and production.
Novel enzymes are selected from nature, and can be tailored to perform specific functions with applications in a broad spectrum of use cases.
Products utilising biotech capabilities already commercialised by Kerry include acrylerase (a new-to-world enzyme solution capable of removing acrylamide in instant coffee), and denarase (an enzyme solution designed to remove residual DNA and utilised in the manufacturing of vaccines and gene and cell therapies).
Kerry’s chief executive Edmond Scanlon said that biotechnology solutions present a new horizon of innovation and opportunity for global food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets.
“Kerry’s existing portfolio of biotech capabilities, which has been built up over the past 20 years, together with this new Biotechnology Centre, enables us to play a leading role in bringing the next generation of discoveries in this space to market, supporting our customers, as they meet consumer needs for sustainable nutrition,” the CEO added.
