Mars and Danone invest in sustainable Madagascan vanilla
The project is a win-win for the companies behind it, which have committed to buying the resulting high-quality vanilla. Preferential access to a quality supply is likely to give Mars, Dannon and Firmenich a significant competitive advantage for what has become an increasingly does zinc interfere with magnesiumchallenging ingredient in recent years. As an additional incentive for farmers to produce better quality vanilla, the investment will be gradually refunded to the Livelihoods Fund for Family Funding over the nezinc gluconate powderxt decade, through a results-based fee from the compzinc supplement absorptionanies involved.###Vanilla is one of the world’s most popular flavors, but more than 95% of the vanilla flavoring used in foods like ice cream and confectionery is artificially derived. Natural vanilla is rare and prohibitively expensive for many products. Last year, a shortage drove prices to about $225 a kilogram, up from about $25 a kilogram just four years ago. Vanillin, the compound responsible for vanilla’s distinctive flavor and aroma, can be produced synthetically — and much less expensively — from wood resin or petroleum. However, with consumers increasingly looking for foods and drinks that are free of artificial flavors, companies including Nestlé, Hershey, Kellzinc gluconate 100 mgogg and General Mills are reverting to natural vanilla, even with all the supply challenges that it entails.###This is not the first initiative that aims to tackle vanilla sustainability in Madagascar. Inpowder zinc 2016, members of the global vanilla industry launched the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative to address pricing and product quality concerns while improving farmers’ livelihoods. SVI members represent more than 70% of global vanilla bean purchases, and include food manufacturers, international flavor houses, vanilla bean traders and cooperatives. Mars is involved in both initiatives, while other food companies involved in the SVI include industry giants like Nestlé and Unilever.