Continuing the Conversation With
Sarah Reisinger

In addition to innovation, the heart of the IFT FIRST session you participated in is all about collaboration and diverse thinking. How do you cultivate that as head of the science and research at DSM Firmenich?

I think in science it’s really important to have diverse ideas. So it’s great to have a global R&D team where we have research throughout Europe, in the United States, but also India and China, which allows for very different cultural points of view. It’s also about having a culture where people feel comfortable to bring different, new ideas and feel safe doing that. Thinking about different modes of innovation—working with startups or working with academia—to bring in those different types of ideas.

Turning to your work in the field of biotechnology. Back in March, EuropaBio – the European Association for Bioindustries, of which you are chair, called for ambition and urgency in the implementation of the initiative “Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU.” Why is biotechnology so important to the future of multiple industries, but specifically the food and nutrition industries?

I do truly believe in the importance of biotechnology for the future of food and beverage. One of the reasons is you think about as we’re innovating and we identify something that is naturally found in plants that you eat, but in a trace amount, you could try to extract that from the plant to give that new product to consumers, but it wouldn’t be very sustainable. You could also make that same product via precision fermentation in a really sustainable way. And as we see climate change occurring and the availability of certain natural products become harder to get, biotechnology is a solution that can allow for new products and replace other products to allow for sustainable solutions for the food system.

Is there a current project that you can share with us that you are really excited about?

That’s a difficult question because there are so many projects. I always talk about innovation projects like children, you love them all the same but differently. But for me, one I’m really excited about is the use of data science and AI in working with customers and the Delvo®ONE products that we’re working on where we use data to have bespoke solutions for cultures for fermented dairy products. And so we’re using data and AI to identify the right combination of cultures for say, yogurt that give our customer and the end consumer exactly what they’re wanting in terms of taste, in terms of the texture of the yogurt, as well as in shelf life. Because depending on the region you are in and what the customer’s looking for, it can be different. And what we’ve found is using data and AI, the combination of cultures they’ve suggested has been completely different than ones we would’ve thought. So it’s opening up new avenues. That’s exciting as a first kind of proof point of the importance of these new technologies to open new solution spaces for products.

And then the other space that I’m really excited about is really thinking about functional foods, right in that intersection of health and nutrition, going beyond nourishment. And so we are doing some basic work on microbiome and then looking at how can you get health from the gut, from the foods you’re eating, be it fiber, prebiotics, or postbiotics.ft