Asia Is Facing Increasing Health And Dietary Challenges

Roquette, a global leader in innovative plant-based ingredients, has recently opened new offices and an innovation center in Singapore, increasing its focus on Asia’s nutrition and health challenges. The state-of-the-art facilities, which include a research laboratory, customer technical services as well as the new regional headquarters, will allow Roquette to tailor its products and address the specific health and dietary challenges of the region such as obesity or diabetes.

Aishwarya Venkatesh

The new facilities will complement Roquette’s existing research and application centers in the Americas, Asia and Europe and will allow the company to partner with customers, universities and research institutions, such as Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) or the National University of Singapore. They will reinforce Roquette’s deep expertise to support customer innovations in food, nutrition and pharma.

This announcement in Asia, the world’s fastest growing region, follows a series of recent global investments by Roquette into North America, Latin America and Europe, and will help propel the future growth of the company’s food and pharmaceutical businesses. In an interaction with NuFFooDS Spectrum Rajeev Gokhale, Head of R&D, Asia Pacific, Roquette shared his views on his overall strategy for APAC region.

Why Roquette chose Singapore as the location for its Asia expansion?

Asia is facing increasing health and dietary challenges that Roquette is well-positioned to address through its research in plant-based food, nutrition and health sectors. Expanding our capabilities into Asia reinforces our commitment to better serve the region and address the food, nutrition and health challenges it faces.

Singapore not only provides an ideal business friendly environment, it is highly connected and is among the world’s top countries for attracting, growing and retaining global talent. The location is ideal for Roquette to establish its Asia Pacific headquarters as it extends our accessibility to our customers as well as fosters a closer collaboration in developing customized innovations with our partners in the field of food, nutrition and pharma.

What are the key trends in Asia’s ingredient market?

The growing trend in Asia’s ingredient market can be attributed to several factors including a booming middle class, increasing health and dietary challenges (diabetes, obesity, ageing population, health consciousness, new eating behaviors, food allergies …).