Enabling Sustainable Nutrition Dr Albert McQuaid, Chief Science & Technology Officer at Kerry Group, talks about the company’s phenomenal rise from a small dairy cooperative to a global food company, and how they’ve emerged as a world leader in sustainable nutrition W ith over 22,000 employees across manufacturing, sales, technology and R&D, supplying more than 18,000 food products and supplements to customers in over 140 countries, Kerry Group is one of Ireland’s most successful companies. Its model is very much business to business and many of the products aren’t branded – as a result, not everyone is aware of its remarkable global reach and innovation. Often, Irish people hear Kerry Group and think Kerrygold,’ says Dr McQuaid ‘but Kerrygold is an Irish Dairy Board product, not one of ours. We did start as a dairy cooperative - very quickly, our first CEO, Denis Brosnan put emphasis on using technology to bring more added value to basic dairy products and we’ve continued that science-driven approach to the business as it has expanded to include a huge range of food, beverages and pharma products.’ Kerry has technologists across multiple disciplines: ‘We have flavour experts, protein experts, enzyme experts, nutritionists, mixologists, world-renowned chefs - a whole range of different capabilities and we also work with a global network of between 50 and 100 universities and research institutes. We’re constantly looking to improve the nutritional profile of foods by, for instance, reducing salt, sugar and trans-fats, and increasing fibre and protein, but doing that in a way that doesn’t compromise taste.’ Current customers include global leaders like Coca-Cola, Starbucks and McDonald’s, whom Kerry Group work with on lower-sugar products and dairy-substitutes, as well as start-ups like Beyond Meat and growing US company, Tractor Soda. Kerry Group’s focus is “sustainable nutrition” and that’s sustainable in terms of taste, health and the environment. ‘Our starting point is you should consume food products because they’re good for your health and because they taste really good. In the past, in the industry, people were developing products that were nutritious but tasted terrible, or products that tasted great but were nutritiously terrible. How we find that sweet spot between the two is a real strategy point for us, and we think we’re pretty unique in our positioning.’ Trinity is among the universities they collaborate with - they have a research project with immunologists Luke O’Neill and Fred Sheedy. ‘We developed a product from the fermentation process of yeast. It’s clinically validated, but we want to understand more about the mechanism of action of the ingredient, so we’ve placed someone to do a residency in Fred’s lab.’ As a Trinity graduate in biochemistry, Dr McQuaid is particularly delighted to be collaborating with his alma mater. He came to Dublin from Monaghan in the mid-1980s: ‘It was difficult at first because I didn’t know anyone, but you build a network. I always say you go to university to learn about life as much as about your chosen subject. At university, you’re in a new environment, you’re independent, you have opportunities to do different things and learn from the people around you. The life skills I learnt at Trinity have been critical to my career and life, and I made great friends.’
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