The Challenge

How can AAK ensure capabilities beyond the knowledge of oils and fats in order to co-develop and offer complete solutions to the company’s customers in the special nutrition application area?

The output of the challenge should be a recommendation of how AAK should handle the challenges in the field of Special Nutrition in general or within one or two of the four more specific areas.

Background

AAKs brand promise to the company’s customers is that AAK is “The Co-Development Company”. It means that AAK collaborates with their customers from idea to product launch in order to create value-adding solutions. AAK has got many years of experience working with this approach in the global food industry based on the company’s advanced capabilities in vegetable oils and fats. AAK brings together Global Customer Innovation capabilities in an innovation network to offer first choice solutions for customers everywhere. Global capabilities are brought into Co-Development locally through innovation centers all over the world. 

“For many years AAK has provided its customers with tailor-made solutions that significantly improve nutritional intake. To constantly be in the forefront and to put innovation at the top of the agenda, the company’s Special Nutrition division recently created a new product development team, who will evaluate new, scientifically-based opportunities within the nutrition area” (AAK Magazine Insight, #6, June 2018).

AAK offers its customers special nutrition solutions aimed at the following application areas:

• Medical Nutrition: Applications such as high nutritional supplementary powders, drinks or snacks, tube feeds, intravenous nutritionals, and injectable pharmaceuticals
• Infant Nutrition: Lipid ingredients, which are custom-designed for infant nutrition
• Senior Nutrition: Customized products with the right functionalities to keep seniors healthy and active

Products with special nutrition properties are often sold primarily or partly because of these properties. Nutritional health claim regulation by The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) makes it necessary to have solid clinical evidence in order to make a health claim for a product.