As we approach the end of the year, we reflect on some of the many milestones showcasing our commitment across 2023 to Science\ Solutions \ Society.
Introducing the new Tate & Lyle brand
Our new brand: pioneering, human and passionate! We started 2023 with the unveiling of our new brand identity, an important milestone in our transformation into a purpose-led, growth-focused speciality food and beverage solutions business. At the heart of our brand is our commitment to Science \ Solutions \ Society, where we use science to find solutions to tackle society’s biggest challenges.
In recognition of the purpose-led, science-driven business we are today, we were honoured to be named one of the world’s most trustworthy companies in 2023 by Newsweek and Statista, while being celebrated as a UK Superbrand for our quality products, exceptional service, and commitment to innovation.
Science: Advancing science to bring more ingredient solutions to customers
Innovation is our lifeblood and every day we use science to find new ways to help our customers to create great tasting, healthier food and drink. To help co-create more exceptional reduced sugar food and drink with customers, we expanded our leading sugar reduction toolkit with the launch of TASTEVA® Sol, a patented breakthrough in stevia technology, with exceptional solubility.
In our health and wellness platform, we continued to introduce products from our Quantum High Tech dietary fibre business in China, acquired last year, into new markets, with the launch of EUOLIGO® FOS in North America.
We also announced a major investment programme in our corn wet mill in Boleráz, Slovakia, to establish new capacity for our PROMITOR ® Soluble Fibres. This major investment programme will help us to meet growing consumer demand for fibre as a tool for supporting gut health and immunity.
Leveraging science to help tackle society’s biggest challenge – climate change – we also announced a sustainability enhancement to the hero brand in our mouthfeel platform: our CLARIA® Functional Clean Label Starches. With the same functionality, labelling and process tolerance benefits of the original versions of the product line, CLARIA® G uses a new production process that reduces its carbon footprint by 34% and water use by 35%, and will be launched in early 2025.
Solutions: Uncovering solutions that makes tasty food healthier and healthy food tastier
Enabling us to continue to partner more closely with customers, we opened a Customer Innovation and Collaboration Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia, the newest in our global network of 17. At these centres, our food scientists help regional players and global customers to overcome their formulation challenges and launch winning products. Find out how we helped Pladis and Oatly.
Our ability to turn science into solutions is central to what makes us a great development and innovation partner for our customers. This was a key takeaway in this year’s Tate & Lyle customer survey1, which reflected positive customer perception of our business and global team, where customers scored us highly for ingredient innovation, alongside sustainability, loyalty, satisfaction and enthusiasm.
Society: Supporting society for a better world today and tomorrow
Building Thriving Communities is a core pillar in our purpose, and something we are very passionate about. Our partnerships touch all corners of the globe and continue to provide vital help to people across three core areas: health, hunger and education. We are proud to have delivered 3.5 million nutritious meals for people in communities we call home, since 2020.
To Support Healthy Living, we have helped customers to make tasty food healthier and healthy food tastier, taking 7 million tonnes of sugar out of diets through our low and no calorie sweeteners and fibres, since 2020. That equates to 28 trillion calories! Complementing this, we have partnered to build awareness and understanding around nutrition science, for example through our ‘Nutrition for Life’ fibre science educational collaboration with the British Nutrition Foundation and a free education course on low and no calorie sweeteners for health professionals in Latin America.
Continuing to take action to Care for our Planet, we celebrated our production facility in Guarani, Brazil, becoming the first site in our network to be 100% powered by renewable energy, with four other facilities now purchasing 100% renewable electricity. With our focus on sustainable agriculture, we recorded improvements in environmental impact in our two programmes: In China, our stevia programme continues, delivering double-digit reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, while in the US, intervention programmes are underway with corn farmers to support the adoption of more environmentally friendly practices.
These efforts contributed to our improved Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance, as recognised by Institutional Shareholder Service’s upgrading of Tate & Lyle’s ESG rating to Prime Status, putting us in the top ten per cent of companies in the food sector. We were also named a ‘rising ESG Star’ by Investec, a leading investment firm.
As we reflect on 2023, we celebrate how our we have contributed positively to society through improved nutrition, community support, and environmental sustainability. Delivering performance with purpose is our north star.
We thank our talented colleagues for their commitment to living our purpose, and our customers and other organisations that we work with for their partnership, and wish them a happy and healthy 2024!
1. A majority of existing and prospective customers polled agreed Tate & Lyle is a leader in ingredient innovation and sustainability (81% and 80% respectively). Source: Tate & Lyle customer survey 2023