Nutrition in the Digital Age: An Inside Look at Our UK Customer Event
ADM has recently undergone a growth spurt in the United Kingdom with the acquisition of Gleadell and Dunns to expand its origination business and the opening of a new R&D flavour and specialty ingredients lab in Manchester. What better way to showcase this growth than through a customer event in London that brings together all of ADM’s businesses under one roof to discuss industry topics and trends?
Click here to watch highlights of the event.
The annual customer event — held this year under the theme “Nutrition in the Digital Age” — was hosted by ADM Investor Services International managing director and UK country manager Fabian Somerville-Cotton, and featured a number of key speakers, including EMEAI president and Carbohydrate Solutions EMEA president Ismael Roig.
Roig covered some of the key trends that are changing the way we do business today:
- The competitive commodity environment.
- The crossover between food and medicine.
- Changes in the global protein demand.
- Consumer demand for natural, healthy brands, with a purpose.
“In order to adapt to these trends, we need to go change our positioning from feeding the world to nourishing better lives,” explained Roig.
Hannah Braye, senior technical advisor for ADM Protexin, covered the importance of nutrition for gut health — with an in-depth explanation on microbiome solutions.
Marc Ostwald, chief economist for ADMISI, discussed the challenges we face, both globally and specifically in the UK with the current trade wars and uncertainty around Brexit. “The fourth industrial (or technological) revolution will continue to transform the world, even if the populists push back against globalization, it will keep trade tensions elevated,” Ostwald said. “The major challenges for the UK will be to adapt to a post-Brexit world, regardless of whoever will be running the UK government.”
Eddie Tofpik, head of technical analysis for ADMISI, followed on the discussions with a review of the commodity market, highlighting the interesting dynamic of Chicago wheat, which generated much interest within the audience.
The event also welcomed two external speakers: Izabelle Kaminska from the Financial Times and Jessi Baker, the founder and CEO of Provenance, a digital platform to track the provenance of product ingredients. Baker explained the importance of transparency to build trust with customers and invited companies to “join the transparency movement.”
To add a sweet digital touch to the event, attendees were able to try out a Candy Mechanic Cart, which created 3D copies of their face and printed them in chocolate, alongside a variety of samples featuring ADM ingredients from crackers, sweets and fruit bars.
What changes to you see happening in tomorrow’s digital nutrition age?
July 2019
