Value Drivers of Food Ingredients

Name: Value Drivers of Food Ingredients
Start: 2025-04-10T00:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-04-11T23:59:59+02:00
Location: Omnia – WUR

Network meeting

10 April 2025 - 11 April 2025

ABOUT

Value Drivers of Food Ingredients

What are the value drivers of food ingredients from a food consumers point of view? Being on par with their appreciation of the true value of food ingredients is one of the critical success factors of becoming a resilient company in food. Beyond the faltering successes of meat alternatives what are the next global consumer trends the food ingredients manufacturers have to anticipate to? Industry experts and company visits provide sales, marketing and innovation professionals in food with the latest insights about the value drivers of food ingredients.

On the first day the program includes an introduction to Kalsec and Time Travelling Milkman, both IFFI affiliating companies. During the second day we will visit Unilever’s Food Innovation Centre ‘Hive’ in Wageningen (members only). We will elaborate on the insights of the previous day and put them in the perspective of our daily businesses.

PROGRAM

Thursday, 10 April 2025

Venue: Omnia (Wageningen Campus) – Room Spectrum

12:00 – 13:00 – Walk in and registration (including lunch)

13:00 – 13:15 – Opening by Halbe Vogel, IFFI

13:15 – 14:15 – Consumer trends by Mintel by Alex Beckett

14:15 – 14:45 – Break

14:45 – 15:45 – Minimal processing & intrinsic value of ingredients: Oleosome-based solutions – Dimitris Karefyllakis, Time Travelling Milkman

15:45 – 16:15 – Break

16:15 – 17:45 – What’s Heating Up in Wageningen? – Maria Tzoumaki, David Johnson & Andrew Bingham, Kalsec

17:45 – 18:00 – Wrap up by Halbe Vogel, IFFI

18:00 – 21:00 – Drinks & dinner at Het Gesprek Restaurant (Wageningen)

Friday, 11 April 2025

Venue: Hive (Unilever Foods Innovation Centre)

09:00 – 11:00 – Program to be confirmed

11:30 – 12:30 – Company visit to Unilever, welcome by Annemarie Elberse

12:30 – 13:30 – Lunch and closure

SPEAKERS

David Johnson, Director R&D, Kalsec

David Johnson is currently the R&D Director for Kalsec’s European business. Previously, he served as the Product Director for Kalsec’s Food Protection business unit, where he specialized in natural antioxidants for food and beverages. His doctoral research focused on clean label solutions to prevent oil oxidation, earning him a PhD in Food Science from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst under the advisement of Dr. Eric Decker.

Andrew Bingham, Senior Food Application Scientist, Kalsec

Andrew Bingham is a Senior Food Application Scientist with over two decades of hands-on experience as a Chef and Head Chef in several luxury hotels and restaurants. He combines creative art, scientific knowledge, and sound business acumen to develop commercial products which suit both innovation and process operations. Andrew is fluent in food R&D, supporting sales, operations and customers in blue sky, cost improvement, innovation and problem solving.

Maria Tzoumaki, Director of Discovery & Open Innovation, Kalsec

Maria is an enthusiastic individual with notable accomplishments, including a PhD, of flourishing in the food technology sector. Boasts experience in several state-of-the-art innovation projects, assiduously working to bring to new ingredients to the market. Effective and awarded communicator with a flair for forging solid and sustainable working relations across disparate functions of an organisation.

Dimitris Karefyllakis, Co-Founder & CEO, Time-travelling Milkman

Dimitris recently completed his doctorate in Wageningen University with the title “Mildly derived ingredients for the utilization of oilseed material”. During his PhD, Dimitris realized that often the methods applied for the processing of foods are harsh and that the manipulation of the properties of plant protein and lipid mixtures can result in the production of structures with promising properties similar to dairy products. Dimitris decided to pursue an entrepreneurial career full of innovative ideas and enthusiasm, the travel through space and time with the Time-travelling Milkman.

Alex Beckett, Senior Director, Mintel Food & Drink

Alex is a director on Mintel’s global Food & Drink team and constructs food and drink insights in creative, thought-provoking ways. He thrives on crafting consumer and innovation stories from Mintel’s data, and a passion for empathy echoes through his work. As well as being an in-demand global soft drinks expert, Alex manages Mintel’s hugely popular Year of Innovation food and drink reports. Prior to Mintel, Alex was a food and drink journalist and school teacher.

Annemarie Elberse, Nutrition and Icecream R&D / Head of Ecosystems, Unilever

Annemarie Elberse is the Nutrition & Ice Cream R&D Head of Ecosystems at Unilever, where she has been contributing her expertise for over 17 years. In her current role, Annemarie focuses on fostering innovation through strategic partnerships and ecosystem development within the nutrition and ice cream sectors. Before joining Unilever, she worked as a Process Technologist at Numico. Annemarie holds a degree from Wageningen University.

EVENT INFO

Registration

This network meeting is for sales, marketing and innovation professionals employed by the IFFI affiliating companies as well as non-affiliating manufacturers of food ingredients. They share insights and best practices within the area of marketing, sales and business development.

Registration is open to IFFI members and non-members.

Fees:

free entrance for IFFI members; including dinner
€ 450 for IFFI non-members (Thursday, 10 April 2025 only); including dinner at Het Gesprek (Wageningen)

Questions regarding this meeting? Contact Marita Mantle-Kloosterboer via marita@iffi.nu