Azelis, a leading innovation service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry, has won the 2021 Ringier Technology Innovation Award for Food & Beverage for the third time in a row. Azelis received the award in the ‘flavoring ingredients’ category, thanks to its ground-breaking formulations that incorporate West Coast Hopshine, a hop flavoring by Kalsec.

Highlights & rationale

• This is the 13th innovation award for Azelis China over the past five years, which demonstrates the value Azelis brings to its strategic principals through its technical expertise in the development of innovative solutions.

• The Ringier Technology Innovation Awards recognize products and technologies that help advance China’s food & beverage industry by either increasing productivity, improving product performance and effectiveness, creating market opportunities or by being environmentally-friendly.

• The winning ingredient, Kalsec’s West Coast Hopshine hop flavoring, is a versatile flavoring agent that can be formulated in a wide range of applications, from sodas to teas and more.

In order to meet the rising demand for fruit-flavored craft beers and other non-alcoholic beverages with a hoppy taste, Azelis formulated teas, sodas and other drinks with the addition of Kalsec’s West Coast Hopshine. Combining Kalsec’s products and Azelis’ market knowledge allow for new opportunities in the Chinese market, a winning mixture of refreshing ingredients and innovative solutions.

Jackson Chu, Azelis China Managing Director, comments:

“This award demonstrates our Food & Health team’s drive to provide innovative solutions to our partners, through the combined efforts of our laboratory and sales teams. Together, they have built a comprehensive portfolio that enables us to deliver unique tailor-made solutions and support customers at every step of the formulation process.”

Kalsec is a leading provider of innovative taste and sensory solutions, colors, natural food protection and advanced hop products for the food and beverage markets. Its 100% natural hop flavoring West Coast Hopshine was developed to provide a bold tropical fruits aroma and pleasant hoppy flavor to a variety of beverage products, invoking the feeling of being at a tropical sea-side destination.

Azelis China has grown exponentially over the years due to its technical and formulation expertise, market knowledge, extensive product offerings, sales excellence and strategic acquisitions. It operates dedicated Food & Health application laboratories in China with advanced dairy and bakery capabilities.