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Hahn food stabilizer system comes to India
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Thursday, 16 October, 2008, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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P N V Nair
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 India is an exciting country with tremendous scope for the growth of the food processing industry. Mandy Bretthauer, Marketing & P R Manager, the UK-based Hahn & Co. Ltd, who came to Mumbai to attend the Fi India 2008, talks about her company's products, their application and the potential customers in India.
Could you please give a brief idea about the origin, growth and present status of the Hahn group?
It was founded by Georg Carl Hahn in 1848 and the company was named after him as G C Hahn & Co., the first registered factory for preserved food in Lubcek, Germany. By 1898, after five decades, Hahn preserved foods were distributed worldwide, enjoying an excellent reputation, and earning several awards at world exhibitions. At the turn of the millennium in 2000, Hahn was in a strong position represented in 34 countries and successfully delivering food stabilizer systems in 67 countries. Hahn focuses on its customer food processing needs with complete technological support, innovative product development and customised system solutions. In 2007, a worldwide producer of renewable food ingredients, UK-based Tate & Lyle, acquired 80% share of the G C Hahn & Co. Katharina Hahn from Hahn family remains a shareholder with 20% shares and is a member of the Board.
The company specialises in food stabilizer systems. What is it all about?
Hahn stabilizer systems are the optimal combination of different ingredients, highly functional and custom formulated for dependable performance in various applications. Stabilizers are substances or chemicals that allow food ingredients, which do not mix well, to remain in a homogenous state after blending. Emulsifiers help mix together that would normally separate - oil and water, for example. Stabilizers prevent them from separating again. Hahn's products like Hamulsion, Hamultop, Hamulbac, Hamultec, Hamultaste and Kolloidan are internationally registered brand names and for more than 50 years the key to success of countless food products. Our stabilizer systems owe their success to one decisive factor - the high quality standards of our raw material processing.
What are the raw materials used for manufacturing the stabilizers?
The most important additive used for manufacturing and processing food products are polysaccarides (hydrocolloids), proteins, emulsifiers, fats, salts and acids. Hahn's know-how is the product of more than 56 years. To ensure high quality standards, we purchase raw materials from carefully selected producers and suppliers, from different regions across the world.
We have documented more than 12,000 additives in our database, and know all of their effects on various foods. We are well experienced in understanding the synergies of many raw material combinations - down to their finest nuances. Our R&D laboratories analyse all new raw materials and test them for a wide range of possible applications.
How do you operate and provide service to your customers?
Everything we do is physically delivered on a per kg basis. Yet this is only the tangible expression of our activity. What we sell is more than a powder blend of hydrocollides, proteins, emulsifiers, salt etc. We provide a complete solution, a complete product, according to the needs of the customers. It is a complete package containing the stabilizer system. Our ability to understand all parameters of the process and provide solutions at each stage makes us unique.
All Hahn ingredients are Codex Alimentarius classified and in India we make the product keeping the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) in mind.
What are its areas of application?
Its application is as diverse as the variety of food products. The various food areas have one thing in common, all need texture that appeals to the consumers. For each new product application, for example a yoghurt component in a wellness soup, you will need optimal stabilization. Generally, the application includes dairy products, delicatesaen products, ready meals, sauces & soups, bakery, meat products, beverages, filling aids, fish products, savoury snacks, fruit products, and ice cream.
There is no end to imaginative concepts when it comes to dairy based products. It is in this vast field where we prove our product development skills at best. We are continually developing the full range of dairy products from fermented yoghurts, fromage frais (quarg) and cheeses through to fresh cream, milk drinks, puddings, and aerated desserts.
What are the areas of interest in India?
We have plenty of customers all over India mainly in dairy, fine foods, bakery, convenience foods, ketch-up, sausages, mayonnaise, and the number is growing. It takes a while in India to change to the westernised system from the traditional Indian system. We must prepare a separate package for Indians as the food habits here vary from Europe. The type of food is different, the ingredients used are different, the machines are different and the taste is different here. In order to deliver the most appropriate and effective solution, we must understand our customers' wider business - people, objective, processing constraints, business strategy etc.
How do you operate in India? Have you got any offices here?
In Mumbai we have a sales office-cum- laboratory or an application lab at Saki Naka, Andheri. We have also a marketing agent in India, Burzin D Navasariwalla.
Are you attending Fi India for the first time?
We attended the event last year and the experience was quite encouraging and pleasant. This year, the show is bigger and better organised. There was good response and was appreciated by people in the industry. India as a whole is a very big market. It is a major event to understand the needs of the Indian customer and we made several contacts to expand our business.
Have you got any competitors in the field?
There are several companies already operating in the country. In fact, we are the latest entrant.
What is the future scenario and how do you look at the Indian market, say by 2010?
The scenario is encouraging as compared to the west. Here the food is wasted rather than processed. India should process more food. There is also the need for convenience food. This is really an exciting country, though highly regulated. Restrictions on the use of certain ingredients do not make any sense. But the silverlining is the FSS Act which replaces the PFA Act which was cumbersome.
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