Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 40

I 12 Lexington Herald-Leader Monday September 14 1998 CoverStonf Lexington HerakReader 1 Monday September 14 1998 1J A'1 1' we offer 100 percent natural and 100 percent artificial and everything in between There is a perception that natural is expensive but with enough volume 100 percent natural is Michael Ponder president of Wild's US operations i Every now and then representatives get requests for flavors that strike even die most expe- rienced of them as peculiar Sweet products vice president Christopher Mdn- tyre was at a trade show recently and fielded one request for a flavor that would mask the repulsive taste of kava-kava a root purported to sharpen the mind and relax the body and in fashion in some food circles Another fellow showed up soon thereafter He was wondering whether Wild could create a kava-kava flavor Wild also once captured the essence of hemp for 9 customer The company had to bring in Dutch experts to taste and smell the product (also as it burned) to make sure it got it right But it was at another company that Kate McCoy vice president of culinary-business unit came across a flavor that was downright bizarre It seems that in her part of England Gypsies like to eat roasted hedgehogs those small porcupine-like beasts The company mastered the flavor chips were actually on the market for a while" she said Interjected Voss: "We really try to stay away from the strange flavors It has to be promising or we do it" By Louis Taylor HERAUHEAOER BUSINESS WRITER Want a little hedgehog and hemp on those fries? A green pepper-apple drink to chase them down? Prefer a carbonated milk-and-lemon beverage? Anything is possible Wild products are mostly traditional: Citrus is the main flavor it produces mid it is pushing flavor enhancers for meat-and-potato and other comfort meals at its Kentucky plant But because it supplies flavors to 5000 clients all over die world it maintains 60000 recipes that appeal to the tastes of people from Algeria to Vietnam Soft drinks it has created include the aforementioned pepper-apple called Pam and Magic Water die non-curdling lemon-milk concoction the drinks might strike most Americans as odd but they are perfectly tasty and are big sellers in Central Europe Other juice drinks include orange-tomato and or-angecarrot "The big trend in drinks are New Age beverages isotonics like Gatorade and nutraceuticals herbal drinks that taste good and are good for said Hans-Peter Voss Wild vice presklent of beverages in Erlanger JANET WONNESTAFF The Erlanger plant of Wild Flavors began operations early this year The $40 million site is the German US headquarters MI unique brown bottle also demonstrated the value of packaging With success Wild moved on to bigger enterprises: He invented the technology that keeps berries and other fruit whole in many brands of yogurt And most familiar to Americans he created Capri-Sun the drink in soft foil packets that dominates its segment of the drink market (Wild sold the license to Capri-Sun to Kraft in 1991 but maintains rights to it and makes the flavors) The Wild Group specializes in natural flavors and pushes them hard Its founder had a creed: Other Interests Ihe Wild Group based In Germany makes food flavors and enhancers at Wild Flavors Its new $40 million plant in Erlanger The company started making soft drinks in 1931 but now has many aspects of the food market covered Among its products: Flavors and colors for nonalcoholic beverages Fruit preparations for dairy 4 products such as yogurt and Ice cream as well as chocolate and caramel sauces Flavors and colors for alcoholic beverages Meat and vegetable flavors and 1 flavor enhancers marinades and seasoning Flavors for baked goods and fruit fillings Capri-Sun a natural fruit beverage Cheese powders for snacks Cereal flavors Industrial machinery sold under the name Indag for foodprepara-tion processes including making CaptiSun packaging Wild Flavors' equipment produces flavor distillates from vegetables and other foods The devices resembling showerheads ventilate the air to keep away potential contaminants The company produces natural and artificial flavorings for a vast range of customers though I am a chemist by profession" Rudolf Wild once said was opposed to the chemical treatment of The company began expanding globally in the early 1970s growth that culminated with its move to its $40 million Kentucky plant early this year As it grew it also began marketing artificial flavors "Now we offer 100 percent natural and 100 percent artificial and everything in said Wild's president for its US operations Michael Ponder is a perception that natural is expensive but with enough volume 100 percent natural is Wild is family-owned and does not release its sales figures But Hans-Peter Voss the vice president of beverages was willing to drop a hint has been estimated that our worldwide sales are $1 billion We deny In the United States its sales "have more than in the last year Ponder said A stroll through the Wild factory turned up mostly natural flavors A 10-gallon jug stamped Cooked tomato flavor a dear liquid sat around the comer Other vats held natural liquid banana flavor The feint odor of cheese powder that finger-staining orange flavor sprayed on puffs chips and other snackswafted through the white-and -green hall at one point Outside a test kitchen research chef Kimberly Reichert ate her lunch a thick stew of fresh vegetables Any Wild flavors? she responded "Chicken flavor Why should I bother to make stodi?" as healthfully packed with minerals and vitamins The buzzword: or that do a body good The medium-term US market for such foodstuffs alone is estimated at $250 billion a year At tiie same time food giants such as General Mills want to chum out their products as fast and as efficiently as possible At Wild Flavors in Erlanger chemists and food scientists are applying their energies to solving the problems that arise from all of these trends Beef and chicken enhancers real-Jy do make frozen meat taste fresh again Toasty bran flavor lends a baked taste to otherwise-bland cereal extruded from huge machines Without a natural additive a 20 percent soybean cookie tastes frankly like a dried bean that has been soaked but not cooked With the Wild flavor a passable cookie of somewhat peculiar texture What the scientists are up against is that natural flavors and colors Wild's specialty since the company was founded by Rudolf Wild in 1931 can be unstable and react badly to heat cold and the omnipresent kitchen gadget the microwave Wild has deep roots in the business of natural flavors It began in Heidelberg where young Rudolf was studying chemistry at the university A friend asked him to create a carbonated drink with minerals in ft lie did and it became a commercial drink popular in the city After trundling along with such products he hit on a really big seller after World War IL Libella was the first all-natural soda made with real fruit juice It was a hit and its German-based firm supplies taste of world By Louise Taylor HERAUHEADER BUSINESS WRITER After the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in 1989 the folks been on its east side were bereft of a product whose manufacture ceased with their newfound freedom Passion fruit-orange drink Naturally they turned to the Wild bunch in Heidelberg Germany The Wild Group as it is more formally known put its flavorists to work to duplicate the taste to which its formerly Communist cousins had grown accustomed much as imperialist Americans are impassioned over their Coke and Pepsi Nothing seemed to work The food-flavor experts tried various strains of passion fruit but the an-Cllff Kerr a flavorist extracts flavor and color from carrots in 8wer kept coming bade "nein nkht the culinary flavor lab where flavors for a wide variety of foods are developed turned out the drink had Just a few of the products made at the Erlanger plant Wild maintains 60000 flavor recipes for 5000 customers 1 JANET WORM STAFF been made with artificial passion fruit" said Christopher McIntyre vice president of the Sweet Business Unit at Wild Flavors Inc in Erlanger the American headquarters of the Wild Group which supplies a half-billion tons of flavor each year to blue-chip and small-cap food manufacturers "They had had nothing to compare it to for 30 years" People are funny about food: They want it to remain die same in flavor and appearance even though the natural materials from which it is made can change Some papayas are sweet others bland Some meat is mild some gamy Berries can be sweet or sour For decades this demand for sameness has fueled the market for better food through chemistry Pe- market naturally flavored and colored breakfast munchies on the other side of the Atlantic (The fake stuff still reigns in die United States) People code less but they want the same comfort food that their grandmothers made But now we want it in 15 minutes instead of slaving over a hot stove for a day to create those flavors So we buy pre-cooked meals at the supermarket or at the drive-through In the food business these are called Home Meal Replacements HMRs the civilian equivalent of the military MREs or Meals Ready to Eat Alas those precooked meals are usually frozen and lack flavor as a result of the chilL Then there's a growing contingent worldwide that wants food free of synthetic chemicals as well troleum is nice and stable and it makes its way into all sorts of food you put on your table Like the color of cranberry juice or fruit punch? The nickname is apt: The color come from fruit but from dried cochineal insects These days the food frontiers are expanding: The demand for natural flavorings and colorings is growing kwder Europeans for instance wanted artificial ingredients removed from their cold cereals The cereal giants listened and now i.