The GNT Group is investing more than three million euros in its research and development capabilities: by constructing new laboratory facilities at its headquarters in Mierlo, the Netherlands, the company will almost double its capacity for quality control and product development. With this investment, the company is laying the foundation for future growth and maintaining its number one position in the field of fruit and vegetable juice for colors. Construction works are in full progress and will be finished by early 2017. As the facilities open, several new jobs will be created.

“This boost in research and development is bringing our product development to the next level and insources additional quality control measures to make them even faster and more efficient. The expansion stands fully in line with our long-term business strategy and backs up our targeted annual growth.”, says Dr. Hendrik Hoeck, Managing Director of the GNT Group. “As pioneer in the field of fruit and vegetable juice for color, innovation is core to us: we have always been driven by the goal to continuously extend the ease and possibilities of applying our color solutions, as well as their precise fit to any product, in order to make coloring food - with food - the industry standard“, says Hoeck.

The new laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art technologies for testing, including microbiological analysis and hygiene monitoring. Being situated on the production plant grounds in Mierlo, they will bring research and development activities closer to manufacturing. This allows GNT to better, faster, and more flexibly serve the growing number of food and beverage manufacturers switching to fruit and vegetable juice colors, and to fulfill their specific and increasingly complex requirements. In addition, each of the companies’ 11 affiliate locations around the world have application laboratories to provide clients with local knowledge, technical, and regulatory support as well as tailor-made advice.

For almost 40 years GNT has been pushing the development of this industry. In the 1990s the family-owned company was the first to use spirulina algae to give food and beverages various shades of blues and greens by natural means. The Dutch firm was the first to market oil and fat dispersible fruit and vegetable juice colors in 2013. Most recently, it introduced the first micronized powders based exclusively on Colouring Foods.

For more information on GNT and the company’s natural color solutions, visit www.gnt-group.com.