The partnership of Freddy Hirsch and Symrise, major producers of food ingredients, spices, and flavors has created natural food enhancers that meet the demands of the African market, said Kojo Brifo, managing director of Freddy Hirsch Nigeria and West Africa.
Food enhancers are additives that make consumers’ tastes in food and beverages better.
Freddy Hirsch and Symrise use advanced technologies to create cutting-edge and novel tastes in food and drinks while also meeting the nutritional requirements of consumers, according to Brifo.
He said: “Changing the taste of existing food and beverage products and creating a new food or beverage product is usually made easier with food enhancers.”
Speaking on the importance of food enhancers, Brifo said that they help preserve the flavor of perishable foods that tend to lose flavor due to processing and preserving.
“The preservative use of food enhancers is not the only reason for the growth of Africa’s food enhancer industry. There are some specific components such as: rising urbanisation, a growing demand for convenience and ready-to-eat food, evolving tastes and preferences of consumers, a booming tourism and hospitality sector, increasing demand for new flavors, and Technology adoption,” the MD said.
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Furthermore, the African food enhancer market has continued to attract foreign investors who want to grow their global presence and reach. “While supporting the growth of the African food and beverage industry, their presence has increased competition within the flavor and enhancer market”, Brifo said.
Brifo also said that the major challenge faced in Africa’s flavor and enhancer market is the inability of global houses to design flavors for Africa due to a lack of consumer insights.
“Unfortunately, most flavor houses, especially the non-local companies do not have boots on the ground to understand the flavor market in Africa and have to develop solutions based on secondary research. Nonetheless, the African food enhancer market has grown to become appealing to international players.”
“Foreign investors have continued to invest in the market to grow their global footprint while supporting the growth of the African industry. This has made it possible to meet the ever-evolving taste and nutritional demands of consumers,” Brifo said.
