Nestlé, General Mills open innovation centre

Nestlé and General Mills opened an innovation centre based in Orbe, Switzerland on Feb. 1.

The US$50-million facility will house their joint venture, Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW), and will be the headquarters for CPW’s global research and development network.

The work at the centre will focus on improving the nutritional content, freshness, texture and taste of the two food processors’ products.

The new centre – which will build on Nestlé’s research and development experience and General Mills’ technical strengths, as well as both partners’ expertise in food processing technologies – adds to CPW’s existing 14 factories and two R&D centres worldwide.

Pictured: The new facility based in Orbe, Switzerland.

Nestlé and General Mills formed their partnership in 1990. Today CPW offers well-known brands such as Shreddies, Fitness, Chocapic and Nesquik.

In the past five years, says both companies, CPW has introduced whole grains and reduced salt and sugar levels. To date, CPW has reduced more than 7,000 tons of sugar and nearly 900 tons of salt and they’ve added more than three billion servings of whole grains.