Kraft's new innovation centre in Switzerland will ensure innovations in chewing gum and sugar confectionery have regional appeal.

Kraft said that the team at the new €10.4m gum and confectionery R&D facility at Eysins will work closely with researchers at its gum and candy centre of excellence in New Jersey to determine how to develop gum and confectionery products and packaging that adhere to taste and other preferences of consumers throughout Europe.

Laurie Guzzinati, a spokesperson for Kraft, said that today’s opening event was the culmination of a two-year project kickstarted by Cadbury management prior to the acquisition of the confectionery group by the US giant in February this year, and the move represents another stage in the integration of the Cadbury business into the global group.

And the Kraft spokesperson said that the growing consumer demand for gum that can deliver ingredients that aid oral healthcare and hygiene as well as interesting new flavour profiles were the primary triggers for the development of the regional centre in Switzerland. Indeed, resurgence in gum product innovation within the EU is likely given the approval last week by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for a health claim related to sugar-free chewing gum and a reduction in tooth decay.

Guzzinati said that the Swiss R&D facility is the latest addition in Kraft’s global network of innovation centres, which now total 15 sites globally, and she added that collaboration with research institutes based in Switzerland is on the cards.

According to Guzzinati, innovation focused on chocolate confectionery will remain the remit of the Bourneville R&D centre in the UK but that alliances between it and the Eysins centre will naturally form as “often technology developed at one centre will have obvious applications for other food categories.”