From the Experts: Where Safety Meets the Defense of Competitive Advantage

By: Jeb Gleason-Allured, Editor

Posted: July 18, 2008, from the August 2008 issue of P&F magazine.

He added that vague “green” concepts will steadily give way to calls for sustainability from ingredient and flavor suppliers. This, he explained, “will increase pressure on ingredient suppliers to say certain things about their ingredients—this is going to be time consuming.”

Simultaneously, flavor companies are facing increasing pressure to reassure customers about safety and compliance, while also taking steps to protect intellectual property, primarily consisting of proprietary formulas, business practices and supply chain. “It is the most valuable asset that your companies have,” said Cox. Intellectual property enhances the profitability of companies and provides numerous competitive advantages. “It’s the intangibles that make the difference,” he continued. “When your customer asks where you got an ingredient, this is proprietary. Your customers and your customers’ customers want to know more about your flavors and ingredients. And because the environment is so competitive, it’s more important than ever to protect this information.”

Other topics discussed: Country of origin; Strategies for limited formula disclosure; Knowing your sources

This is only an excerpt of the full article that appeared in P&F Magazine, but you can purchase the full-text version.