PETpla.net Insider 06+07 / 2014

EDITOUR REPORT 13 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 06+07/14 www.petpla.net May 20, 2014 Döhler America Latina We met: Martin Tolksdorf, General Manager Jane Vieira, Marketing Cesar Rodolfo, Technical Key Account Manager F.r.t.l.: Martin Tolksdorf, General Manager Döhler Latin Amé- rica, Jane Vieira Marketing and Waldemar Schmitke PETplanet in front of the Editourmobil on the Döhler plant premises in Limeira, Brazil Flavour taste is local taste The final week of the Go with the Flow Tour South America begins with a visit to Döhler in Limeira in the Fed- eral State of São Paulo. This meeting is of particular inter- est to us because the topic of flavouring agents and juice concentrates is, so to speak, new territory as far as we, Florian Roscheck and Waldemar Schmitke, are concerned. For this reason we are particularly looking forward to the meeting with Martin Tolksdorf, who is not only General Manager of Döhler América Latina but also a specialist in the manufacture of flavourings and juice concentrates for the beverages industry as well as anything and everything else bordering on this subject. The plant, which opened here in Limeira in 2008, lies 150km to the north-west of the metropolis of Sao Paulo. With 150 employees, the site forms part of the Döhler Group, a company whose head office is in Germany. The raw materials for orange concentrates literally grow right outside the front door, in the famous Brazilian orange belt. From freshly-picked orange right through to the juice drink What interests us in the first place is what happens to an orange from picking to packaging in the form of a drink. The oranges come from the plantations and are delivered to citrus depots in Brazil where they are cut up, pressed and the relevant raw materials extracted from the compo- nents. The peel oil is obtained from the skin. The orange juice is pressed out from the fresh fruit. The orange juice is then concentrated by removing water through evaporation (1/6), leaving the actual juice concentrated behind in liquid form and generating orange water phase, rich in volatile flavouring agents. Next, essential oil is extracted from the concentrate by means of centrifugal force. This is then offered for sale separately. These raw materials (orange concentrate, peel oil and water phase) Döhler uses in the form of what is known as orange by-products. The lion’s share is made up of orange by-products, but by-products from tropical fruits, apples, peaches and pineapples also undergo further processing in the plant. For purposes of further processing, the site here in Limeira has at its disposal all physical methods (such as extraction and distillation techniques) that are necessary in order to transform the by-products into natural flavour- ing extracts. This is achieved firstly through further con- centration and subsequent fractionation, with a break- down as far as the molecular level. This enables natural aroma fractionates to be produced, such as are already required by law, for example, in Europe. “This means that the plant here is also in a position to extract natural aroma fractionates and to use them either assembled or as core modules for customers and parent companies outside Brazil“, says Martin Tolksdorf. He further empha- sises that the line-up of facilities at this site is “already making it possible to use what are, in the main, natural raw materials”, an issue that is a topic for discussion worldwide. In summary, this is where natural flavouring agents are extracted and subsequently blended into flavour- ing concentrates in line with market requirements. Once we have been allowed to test a few samples we quickly become familiar with the background. The flavour has been removed from the original fruit concentrate during the pro- cess of evaporation. It comes as a surprise to us when we find that the orange concentrate does not taste of oranges but can only be classified as inedible when it comes to matters of taste. To compensate for this lack of flavour, the taste is now restored in the form of natural flavour- ings extracted from plants, parts of plants, fruits and juices which are mixed in accordance with customer specifica- tions. The result is a natural flavour concentrate that is later watered down to the appropriate strength for the drink at the juice bottling plant. However, there are some highly complex approaches that merit consideration when it comes to the skills asso- ciated with juice production and these are present in the form of total solutions. “At the same time,” Mr Tolksdorf explained, “ the issue is one of reliability in terms of taste and standardisation right through to the logistics stage which, in Brazil, has a special part to play throughout the length and breadth of the land and which calls for cor- responding solutions”. The more complex the solutions, the greater the demands are in terms of development, even in the beverages sector. It is not only a question of flavour but also shelf-life in association with a wide variety of drinks packages. “Here blends of vitamins, minerals, tea extracts are used, a composition such as this may be made up of up to 160 elements; a challenge in terms of development as far as this site is concerned and one that it is important to overcome”, says Martin Tolksdorf.