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DSM-Firmenich has opened a new US baking innovation facility in Princeton, New Jersey, as part of a broader €700m investment to advance its global R&D capabilities.
The new Princeton Baking Innovation Center aims to help customers accelerate innovation, improve agility and co-create applications such as bread rolls, pastries, tortillas, cookies and snack foods with greater speed and precision.
It houses an advanced workspace with modern bakery technology to support the team’s site of bakers, product developers, technical experts, applications scientists, flavourists, sensory scientists, marketing experts and customer insights specialists.
Baked goods manufacturers and brand owners will benefit from access to tasting panels, concept screening technologies and DSM-Firmenich’s portfolio of solutions for the bakery sector.
These solutions include characterising flavours, modulating flavours to support sugar and sodium reduction, protein and grain masking, specialised dairy and non-dairy concentrates, sweeteners, enyzymes, hydrocolloids, colours, preservation solutions, and fortifying ingredients including proteins, omega-3s and vitamin premixes.
DSM-Firmenich said the facility will allow for faster, more integrated product development and minimise the impact of fluctuating costs of raw materials, such as cocoa, eggs and vanilla.
Chris Perkins, senior vice president for Taste, Texture and Health, North America at DSM-Firmenich, said: “Our new Princeton Baking Innovation Center underscores our ambition to bring progress to life by empowering our customers to create bakery products that not only taste incredible but are also healthier and sustainably produced. This state-of-the-art facility is a game changer, allowing deeper collaboration and innovation at an unprecedented speed and scale.”
The site’s location is strategically positioned in Princeton to be close to key customers and commercial partners, as well as major transportation hubs, while also serving as a collaborative hub for partners across North America. It complements the company’s Princeton Food and Beverages Pilot Plant, which opened in 2024.