CHAPECÓ, BRAZIL and HOLZMINDEN, GERMANY — In late August, Symrise inaugurated its new pet food palatant production facility. Located in Chapecó, the facility will produce palatants for dog and cat food formulas and will establish the biggest global footprint for Symrise Pet Food.

Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the quality and safety of pet food formulas, seeking to satiate their furry companions’ taste buds while also meeting their nutritional needs. With this in mind, Symrise made the move to construct the new palatant facility to help pet food processors meet these demands.

The new palatant facility spans more than 10,000 square meters (about 107,639 square feet), making it the largest of its kind in Latin America and for Symrise Pet Food, according to the company. It features advanced technology, full automation capabilities and a high operational efficiency, as well as follows Symrise’s strict food safety and environmental guidelines.

The new facility adds to Symrise’s existing factory in Descalvado, São Paulo, strengthening the company’s presence in Latin America. According to Symrise, the facility will triple its production capacity for pet food palatants in Brazil, preparing it to meet increasing demand for pet food products in Brazil and Latin America. Additionally, the site will serve global markets by offering a variety of products formulated to help reduce sanitary barriers in the pet nutrition industry.

The plant will employ more than 50 people and generated several indirect jobs during its construction. Symrise partnered with the Brazilian local government to build the state-of-the-art facility.

“We faced the challenge of constructing an extraordinary factory capable of serving the dynamically growing local market and also the global market,” said Fernando Putrino, general manager pet food at Symrise Brazil. “Today, we celebrate the opening of this site, a milestone achieved with the dedication of our passionate team and the strong support of the local government. Together, we can showcase the capabilities of the Brazilian industry to the world.”

The inauguration was attended by local authorities, political dignitaries, business representatives and collaborators involved in the project. Following the inauguration ceremony, Symrise provided attendees a tour of the facility, which showcased the end-to-end production process for its pet food palatants.

“I feel very honored to host such an event,” said Gonzalo Rodriguez, general manager pet food at Symrise in LATAM. “It represents a great opportunity to illustrate our leading position in the industry. It builds on a solid foundation that comes from a combination of more than 40 years of experience and our passion for manufacturing palatants.

“Thanks to the visitor corridor we built above the plant, we can show the production process from an exclusive observation point,” he added. “Also, we can tell the visitors what happens before starting to manufacture a palatant. Many people experience for the first time that — before entering the market — we test a palatant 150 times to ensure its performance. Also, they can learn here that we evaluate our new products on their environmental impact in seven categories. This enables us to determine the best formulation to comply with our commitment to lower our environmental footprint.”

In addition to supporting the pet food industry, the facility is part of Symrise’s global plan to invest in local development, which seeks to get the company’s operations closer to both its suppliers and customers to ensure consistent supply. As part of this plan, the company has opened two other factories specializing in pet food ingredient production in China and Colombia.

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