IFF announced the opening of the Citrus Innovation Center in Lakeland, Fla., in partnership with Florida Polytechnic University. This 30,000-square-foot facility encompasses state-of-the-art capabilities in botanical research leveraging its LMR by IFF natural ingredients expertise, processing, analytics, product creation for scent and taste, and includes a 360-degree digital immersion room. Designed with sustainability in mind, the center offers job opportunities in research, customer experience, supply and operations. “Citrus is vital to our creations in scent and taste, with enormous potential for innovation across our businesses,” said Erik Fyrwald, CEO at IFF, in a statement. “The Citrus Innovation Center embodies our unwavering dedication to innovation, and our commitment to creating enduring external partnerships that help us to bring leading solutions to our customers while doing more good for people and planet.” The Citrus Innovation Center will focus on applications in food and beverage, fine fragrance, body care, fabric and home care. The facility is designed to foster collaborative innovation partnerships, aligning with IFF's culture and values. Additionally, the center boasts direct access to industry-leading experts, academia and on-site prototyping capabilities, enabling customized solutions.

MANE officially opened its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Woodlawn, Ohio. The new plant is an expansion of the company’s Woodlawn campus, increasing MANE’s manufacturing capacity and ensuring a reliable supply of sustainably sourced liquid flavors for various markets, including beverages, dairy, functional nutrition, pharmaceuticals, bakery and confectionery. The investment, exceeding $100 million, is one of MANE’s most significant global initiatives. The new plant will support MANE’s growth ambitions for the next 20 years, allowing the company to meet the rising demand for liquid flavors while ensuring a steady supply of high-quality products for the North American market. MANE’s new 100,000-square-foot plant offers up to 15,000 metric tons of production capability, five times the current capacity. It features an expanded warehouse, with 60,000 square feet for increased ambient, refrigerated, and frozen storage and 25,000 square feet dedicated to production. “The new Woodlawn facility marks a bold strategic move aimed at increasing MANE’s market share in the liquid flavors category in North America and gives us a significant competitive edge, especially in the beverage market,” said Amy McDonald, president of MANE’s North American Flavor Division, in a statement. “The expansion allows us to uphold MANE’s customer-focused manufacturing strategy, ensuring a reliable supply and even greater agility and responsiveness to customer needs.”

Kerry Group announced its 2025 North America Taste Charts Smarts, an interactive quiz designed to help food and beverage brands understand evolving consumer preferences and identify the most appealing flavors for their specific category. The quiz is built on Kerry’s proprietary Taste Trends and Taste Charts, two tools that track the evolution of flavor across 13 global regions. Kerry’s Taste Charts map flavor performance into four tiers — Mainstream, Key, Up & Coming, and Emerging — based on consumer testing and proprietary data across categories like sweet, savory, citrus, dairy, salty snacks, and more. Combined with the 2025 Taste Trends, which reflect broader cultural and functional shifts in consumer flavor expectations, these insights provide a comprehensive view of what’s resonating and what’s next, the company says. Taste Charts Smarts turns this data into an interactive, personalized experience. The quiz invites food and beverage innovators to test their flavor instincts and discover how closely they align with real consumer preferences. Participants receive tailored results based on their product category, including the three most appealing flavors in their respective super category, such as cold, dairy, hot beverages, savory, snack, or sweet snacks; a detailed look at the top-performing flavor in their specific sub-category; and the most relevant 2025 Taste Trends to inspire future flavor innovation.