Making a difference with market leading science-based nutrition products
I’m part of a dedicated pediatric nutrition science team in Arla Foods Ingredients. Our aim is to develop and document ingredients for the sensitive infant formula segment to narrow the gap between formula fed and breastfed infants. It’s an amazing feeling when you attend a conference and suddenly one of our ingredients is up there on the big screen. And it’s up there because it has been documented that children who were fed a formula with our ingredient as infants have a higher IQ than children who were fed an ordinary formula. That means we’re making a difference - and that makes me so proud!
Well documented, high-quality ingredients with real impact
We don’t just sell bags of powder. Our ingredients come with proper scientific documentation that shows how this ingredient has a positive effect on, for example, brain development, intestinal flora or cow’s milk allergy. My focus area is allergy, and it has been for 13 years at Arla Foods Ingredients. It’s my job to know which way the science of allergy is developing, so I spend a lot of time reading research papers, attending conferences, and talking with Innovation colleagues, science professionals at our customers, key opinion leaders and university experts. We have a brand-new hydrolysate factory with dedicated production lines with ingredients for infants with cow’s milk allergy and being in risk of allergy.
We are frontrunners in documentation for nutritional products
Working with products for infants and children, we leave nothing to chance. We do everything by the book, setting up studies and trials to document the living daylights out of everything we produce. It is expensive, but it’s a worthwhile investment. Our products often take part in clinical trials, and that’s something to be proud of. Our customers often choose us because of the documentation we provide. The same goes for our scientific collaborators; we are a respected research partner because we do things properly. We have a strong network and a good reputation. People want to work with us, both in hospitals, the infant formula industry and in academia.
We work together for a common goal
In my team, we are a great mixture of scientists, Sales Development Managers and Account Managers. I maintain contact with the universities in Aarhus, Odense, Copenhagen and abroad, and I often visit the universities to work and collaborate with them. I really enjoy it, but I’m always happy to come home to the office. The internal competition for funding in universities can be pretty cutthroat. At Arla Foods Ingredients, we have all the funding we need to support the business with documented benefits of our ingredients and thereby secure the sales. We work well together in my team, and I’ve even taken them all hiking across Mols, admiring the moraine terrain. We all share the same desire to make a difference. I know that might sound corny, but it’s a well-documented fact.