October 9/St. Louis/PRNewswire -- Food ingredient suppliers ICL Performance Products LP and BK Giulini, with previously separate sales and marketing groups within ICL PP in North America, have combined to form the new North American food division ICL Food Specialties.

"By uniting the forces of these two knowledgeable groups within our organization, ICL Performance Products will focus and strengthen its activities in the North American food and beverage industry," said Dr. Wolfgang Schneider, global lead, Food, ICL Food Specialties. "The alignment of technical expertise follows ICL's Global strategy to be a preferred partner for the food industry."

The new division will share with customers a legacy of experience across all applications within the food industry. It also will provide a portfolio of products that offer customers new ingredients and technologies to solve challenging product development opportunities.

"ICL Food Specialties provides customers with a unique understanding of ingredient interactions to offer options that improve the consistency of product quality while providing more tolerance for common processing variances," said Beth Warren, director, ICL Food Specialties. "Combining these two experienced teams will allow ICL to provide customers with resources and services that help tailor their formulations to optimize the sensory experience," says Warren.

ICL Food Specialties will focus on trend inspired food and beverage applications as well as the continued development of new technology, such as Licresse, launched this summer under ICL Performance Products. It also will provide innovative and functional prototypes for customers through unique application development tools available at the technology center in Webster Groves, Mo.