Taste and nutrition company, Kerry, has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Jining Nature Group. Jining is a Chinese manufacturer of savoury flavours, seasonings and prepared food products and holds nationwide positions in the savoury flavour and prepared foods sectors in China. This acquisition will bring a wide range of authentic local and regional taste technologies and application capabilities to the Kerry portfolio.
Jining Nature Group, which has over 300 employees, will help expand Kerry’s China customer base by providing deeper access to the country’s large regional markets via existing and well-established distribution and foodservice channels. It will enhance Kerry’s savoury flavour manufacturing capabilities in the Asia Pacific market and will enable the company to offer a full suite of savoury offerings in the region alongside its existing comprehensive sweet and beverage flavour portfolios.
“This acquisition will be an important component of our global savoury taste strategy and, as a highly respected leader in the savoury taste marketplace in China, will allow us to accelerate our leadership in the key categories of Meat, Snacks and Instant Noodles. The deep understanding from the Jining Nature team of local cuisine will enable us to create truly authentic taste solutions across a wide range of application and channels. In addition, capabilities in Jining Nature are highly complementary to our Authentic Savoury platform which includes Smoke, Stocks and Fermentation along with a leading portfolio of Savoury Flavours. The potential for this acquisition when coupled with our long-standing business in China and wider savoury capability is hugely exciting. On behalf of the entire Kerry organisation, I’m pleased to welcome the Jining Nature Group and its employees to our team,” John Savage, CEO of Global Taste at Kerry said .
About Jining Nature Group
Jining Nature Group, which consists of Shandong Tianbo Food Ingredients, and the business of Jining Nature Food, was founded in 2000 and has since grown to be one of the largest savoury flavour manufacturers in China. The group’s two established production facilities in Shandong province manufactures the company’s range of products. As part of its 300+ employees, Jining has a research and development team comprised of 70 talented scientists, engineers, chefs, chemists and flavourists.