Small Nation Offers Big Solutions

The Netherlands, once an economic power with trading routes around the world and the financial capital of Europe in Amsterdam, today is an important player in the global food industry. Six fellow food writers and I traveled to the Netherlands to learn about the country’s efforts to promote the food industry and what it can offer to foreign investors.

The week-long trip, which was organized by the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), showcased the business opportunities that the Netherlands offers to foreign food companies, the research facilities that collaborate with Dutch-based and foreign food companies operating in the Netherlands, and the successes of these companies. “The Netherlands is a small country but a huge economic player,” remarked Bas Pulles, Commissioner, NFIA. With its large ports, acclaimed scientific research facilities, talented employees, and attractive business tax system, the Netherlands plays host to a number of foreign food companies including Kikkoman, Cargill, and Danone, all of which have established manufacturing, research and development, or sales operations in the country.

Pulles explained how industry sectors like agriculture-food are organized into public-private partnerships between government, private industries, research organizations, and universities, and that one of the driving factors of success is facilitating the future competitiveness of the sector through the sharing of knowledge. Fonterra relocated its European headquarters from Hamburg, Germany, to Amsterdam in part, he said, to take advantage of research and scientific development on adding value to dairy products that is being conducted at Dutch facilities and universities. Another example is Heinz, which made its
largest investment in innovation outside the United States with the construction of its European research center in Nijmegen, driven by technology and a talented employee base, said Nico Overbeeke, Director of Food & Nutrition, NFIA.

The knowledge and technical expertise that the research institutions and companies located in the Netherlands offer help to meet the Dutch agriculture-food sector’s goals of doing more with less by developing innovative and sustainable food production systems, adding value by focusing innovation on factors like health, sustainability, taste, and convenience, and developing a leading international presence through the export of products and integrated systems solutions, said Bob Steetskamp, Program Director of Priority Sector Agri–Food, NFIA. The efforts are paying off, he added. The agriculture-food sector contributes 9.2% to the total Dutch GDP, the country is the second-largest exporter of agricultural and food products in the world, and 12 of the top 40 food and beverage companies operate research and development facilities or branches in the country, according to data provided by NFIA. As far as knowledge and innovation are concerned, two Dutch universities—Wageningen University and University of Utrecht—are among the top 10 European universities in terms of number of agriculture and food publications, and the Netherlands ranks second among its fellow European countries in food research and development investment as a percentage of GDP.

The universities and research institutions are an invaluable resource to the food industry operating in the Netherlands, with research focusing on a number of issues affecting product development like human nutrition, animal health, physics and chemistry of food ingredients, sustainability, food security, food safety, nanotechnology, and processing. The group visited NIZO Food Research, TNO, TI Food and Nutrition, and Wageningen University for briefings on research being conducted to solve challenges faced by food and beverage product developers in areas such as low-sodium product development, texture improvement and enhancement, ways to process and purify proteins from a variety of different plant sources to offer sustainable protein alternatives, and more. Representatives with Wageningen University and Research Center Food & Biobased Research highlighted  the facility’s Restaurant of the Future, where cameras capture how patrons navigate the cafeteria-style restaurant, what they are buying, what they are eating, and their emotions while eating, as well as what they are discarding. (Signage informs people that they will be filmed in the restaurant.) By introducing foods that have been reformulated, researchers can examine how consumers act in a real-life restaurant situation versus a laboratory environment. They also study how certain aromas, when pumped through the air near the restaurant’s entrance, affect patrons’ food choices.

The Netherlands is a small country indeed, but one that continues to make an impact on the global food industry.

Karen Nachay,
Associate Editor
[email protected]