Nestlé opens global R&D Centre to develop new generation of biscuits

Nestlé opened a global R&D Centre for biscuits and cereal-based snacks in Santiago de Chile. The new R&D Centre will lead Nestlé’s global research and development in biscuits and cereal-based snacks, focusing both on innovation and renovation of products. According to the company R&D Santiago will bring together specialists from various fields, including nutrition, engineering, product development and quality control. With ingredients such as wholegrain, fruits and nuts, biscuits are part of a healthy balanced diet.

The development of new technologies at R&D Santiago will help to further reduce sugar and fat levels to make biscuits lighter, without compromising taste or texture. R&D Santiago will also develop biscuits with bioactive ingredients to improve digestive health as well as fortified products to address local micronutrient deficiencies, thereby adapting biscuits to local tastes and needs.

“The research at this Centre will provide exciting opportunities for innovation in a very important product category. It will allow us to offer consumers in Latin America and beyond the choice of tasty, healthy, more nutritious biscuits,” said Nestlé’s CEO Paul Bulcke. Nestlé’s growing and profitable biscuit business amounted to CHF 1.4 billion in 2008, with 60% of sales achieved in Latin America. The new centre in Santiago will benefit from synergies between R&D and biscuit manufacturing by being based at Nestlé’s industrial site in Maipú, which employs over 1,200 people.