GNT expands with new office in the Middle East

As part of efforts to enhance its global market coverage, fruit and vegetable colour solutions provider GNT Group has opened a new affiliate office in Dubai.

“This is an important step to allow us to further develop our strategy of enhancing our global market coverage, in this respect the GCC region is very important and developing as consumers, manufacturers, retailers and regulators become aware of the need for real natural colour solutions,” explains Paul Collins, GNT’s director of international sales and marketing.

Santhosh Thankappan has been appointed sales director for the newly established affiliate. He says, “As people are getting increasingly conscious of food additives, the demand for natural ingredients is growing strongly and this will soon be further supported by stricter legislation in the GCC.

“Servicing our clients locally in the Middle East, enables us to directly support them with any technical/application challenges and provide innovative solutions that fit perfectly with consumers expectations for a natural colour.”

The new GSO 2500/2015 legislation published by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will mean food and beverage manufacturers located in the GCC region; Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain, will have to put warning statements on products containing the colours: Allura Red AC, Sunset Yellow, Azorubine and Tartrazine.

In order to comply to international standards the warning will read, ‘this material may be having a negative effect on activity and concentration of children’.

“For food and beverage producers, today there is no need to use any additive food colours and especially those requiring a warning statement,” notes Thankappen. “To impart their products with stable and vibrant colours, they can easily replace them with entirely natural fruit and vegetable colour solutions. Manufacturers should now use the opportunity to review their formulations and find alternatives that better meet consumers’ expectations.”

They are exclusively made from fruits, vegetables or edible plants and are processed using gentle physical methods such as pressing, chopping and filtering, no artificial additives, chemicals or organic solvents are applied. It is therefore not necessary to declare any e-numbers or make warning statements. They are also certified for the production of halal foods and are suitable for vegetarian diet.

With the new office, GNT says it can support manufacturers in the region even better with regard to the upcoming legislation and assist in switching from colourants to colouring foods.

“With our longstanding knowledge and expertise in colouring foods we support our clients finding future proof colour solutions for their products, by combining brilliance and stability with naturalness and clear label products. Manufacturers will benefit, they can much better meet the growing demands of todays’ nutrition conscious consumers that want to know what’s inside their foods,” adds Thankappen.