Special report\ Distributors - N°66 conscience Azelis supports the development of its principals Last October, Azelis Food & sugar and salt content. More than built between precise develop- Health France organized in par- enough to promoting the ingre- ment demand from our custo- tnership with some of its princi- dients of its principals - some mers, the stocks that we make pals such as Sensus and Mane of them are distributed all over available for them, and the logis- a one-day event dedicated to the Europe like tate&lyle. tics that we put into place.” The Nutri-Score that brought toge- This was the third time that Azelis observation is that the ingredients ther nearly fi fty customers. The was organizing a “Customer and raw materials distributed are objectives and the principle of Day” - the last one had been not commodities, accessible on Nutri-Score as well as the results dedicated to the bakery sector. e-commerce platforms and that of the Nutrinet study (a presenta- A way of showing that “we are they must be accompanied tion made by Serge Hercberg, ini- focused on innovation and open by implementation advice and tiator of the program), the market to partnerships with the clients”. synergies with other ingredients trends and consumer expecta- Azelis France has a kitchen unit depending on the process of the tions were all covered. Between in Paris dedicated to applica- customers.. these two highlight sessions, tions, where it puts into prac- Azelis has developed by taking workshops focused on the refor- tice its reformulation solutions. over several companies (over mulation levers, whose objective These latter take into account the 35) - the latest additions are was to show that “Azelis can help consumers’ demands for clean the Polish Euroconsultants (fl a- 061 develop products that contain label, vegan products and local vours and ingredients for the less sugar, less fat, less salt sourcing. meat industries) and the Italian and more bres and proteins,” “Our challenge for the years to Deafarma (active pharmaceu- Xavier Sponton, head of the come is to develop an activity tical ingredients). The group, Food & Health business stated. that integrates the digital requi- whose main shareholder was the Five key levers regrouping the rements at the level of innovation private equity fi rm Apax Partners, solutions offered by Azelis were advice,” Xavier Sponton says. He belongs since Junce 2018 to the determined: fibre and protein also said: “We have a role to play private equity fi rms EQT VIII and enrichment, reduction of the fat, in the relationship that is to be PSP Investments. ■ Esenco: sourcing and R&D The distributor continues to expand its team - especially its quality and sourcing teams - in order to offer to its customers “a wide range of natural ingredients that meet the increasingly imporant regu-t latory requirements in the food and food supplement markets,” explains Robert Corrado, founder of Esenco. The company is also developing its range of certifi ed organic products to meet the growth of this market - such an example is the 60% powdered organic honey and the organic dry pollen extract from B Natural, or the seaweed extracts and organic fi bred produced under its own label. Quality, traceability and safety: the partner selection approach (besides B Natural, Esenco distributes the gums, fi bres, pulses of Caremoli Group, EPO’s plant extracts, Leiber’s yeasts...) is reinforced as the company aims to obtain, by 2020, a global “Food Safety” certifi cation for its entire range of natural ingredients. In fact, Esenco has made signifi cant investments in R&D: “We are partners in a research project labelled by the competitiveness cluster Valorial and bene ting from Brittany’s nancial support: the objective is to develop - in the mid-term - innovative nutritionalsuol tios frono uruomcst ers”. In fact, Esenco’s “mission” is no longer that of a negotiator (wholesale purchaser and retailer), but of a true partner in the design and selection of natural ingredients to meet the needs of its clients. ■ News on Functional & Health Ingredients \ N°66 \ January - February - March 2019 \ ■