DuPont Nutrition & Health has announced a significant investment to expand its probiotics production capacity in the United States.
The investment is the second phase of a broader probiotics expansion project, prompted by the rapidly growing global demand for probiotics.
Phase one, supporting current growth, is ongoing in Madison, Wisconsin, and Rochester, New York, and will be partially complete by the end of 2016.
The second phase, scheduled to span 2 years, represents an investment of approximately $100 million, and increases the company’s probiotics production capacity by an additional 70%.
Production will be optimised with the installation of new, high-volume fermenters and other processing equipment.
'This investment reinforces our commitment to the probiotics industry. We see strong growth worldwide, and increasing our capacity enables our partners to continue growing and capturing the opportunities from very favourable market trends,' said Matthias Heinzel, President, DuPont Nutrition & Health.
'As we phase in more capacity, we will continue to maintain the high potency, stability and efficacy in our products that have made DuPont the global probiotics leader. Quality is extremely important in probiotic production, and our reputation for manufacturing quality has always been a differentiator with DuPont probiotics.'
Probiotics have seen rapid adoption. In the United States, consumer awareness is at an all-time high (75%), according to the Natural Marketing Institute.
Further evidence of worldwide probiotic acceptance is reflected in Euromonitor data that shows an increase in the compound annual growth rate for 2015 to 2020 in every global region – from 4.5% in Asia-Pacific to 265 in South America.
Health-conscious consumers are addressing personal health concerns by including probiotics in their daily health and wellness routines.
'Consumers want to proactively take care of their health, and they’re increasingly turning to probiotics to fill that need,' said John Rea, Global Business Unit Leader for Probiotics, Cultures, Food Protection and HMOs. 'We have found through proprietary research that consumers feel probiotics offer a great way to improve their overall health and wellness. And they see probiotics playing the role of a ‘balancer’ in the midst of a stress-filled, fast-paced lifestyle.'
