Edouard Pot, President for Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa at Puratos Group Puratos Group, a global leader in innovative food solutions for the bakery, patisserie, and chocolate industries,…

Edouard Pot, President for Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa at Puratos Group

Puratos Group, a global leader in innovative food solutions for the bakery, patisserie, and chocolate industries, has reaffirmed its commitment to the Asia-Pacific region through a new joint venture in China with Guelph Foods. With over three decades of experience in the Chinese market, this partnership marks a significant step toward localizing high-value baking solutions, including premium UHT whipping creams and plant-based egg-wash alternatives. In an exclusive interview with NuFFOODS Spectrum, Edouard Pot, President for Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa at Puratos Group, discusses the reasoning behind this collaboration, its role in enhancing supply chain resilience, and how it will enable industrial bakery and patisserie manufacturers in the region to innovate more sustainably and efficiently.

What was the main strategic rationale behind forming this joint venture, and how does it align with Puratos’s long-term growth ambitions in Asia-Pacific, particularly China? 

Puratos has been present in China for more than 30 years, and this joint venture marks the next stage in that journey. We already produce solutions such as Ambiante, our whippable topping, and Sunset Glaze, our plant-based egg-wash alternative, in other parts of the world. By combining this expertise with Guelph Foods’ strengths in UHT whipping cream and plant-based egg-wash technology, we can establish local production in China. This will bring us closer to our customers, reduce time-to-market, and ensure we deliver these strategically important categories in a faster and more sustainable way. It reinforces our ambition to support customers with innovative and value-added solutions across Asia-Pacific, which is an important hub for bakery innovation.

How will this partnership reshape the baking and patisserie landscape in the region, especially in the fast-growing segments of plant-based egg wash alternatives and premium whipping cream? 

This joint venture is about enabling industrial bakery and patisserie manufacturers to respond more effectively to today’s market pressures and opportunities. UHT egg-wash alternatives and whipping creams not only help mitigate shortages and volatility in the cost of raw materials like eggs, but they also bring clear sustainability advantages, with a lower environmental and carbon footprint – further strengthened by local production in China. These solutions remove common allergens, enhancing product safety, while delivering superior visual appeal on finished goods.

For manufacturers, the benefits are practical and strategic: consistent quality at scale, greater efficiency in production, and the flexibility to experiment with new product concepts that meet fast-changing consumer expectations. Together with Guelph, our ambition is to give customers in Asia-Pacific the tools to innovate faster, more sustainably, and with more certainty in their supply chain.

Could you elaborate on how Puratos’s R&D capabilities and Guelph Foods’ UHT technology will complement each other to deliver next-generation solutions for customers? 

By integrating Puratos’s world-leading R&D capabilities and global market insights with Guelph Foods’ advanced UHT production technology and scaled capacity in China, this joint venture creates a powerful platform for innovation. It allows us to co-develop and industrialize next-generation solutions such as plant-based egg-wash alternatives and premium whipping creams – categories where we already have strong expertise and leadership. With local production, we can move faster, adapt to regional needs more effectively, and provide industrial manufacturers in Asia-Pacific with consistent, high-quality solutions that support both their growth and sustainability ambitions.

How will this joint venture accelerate the localization of high-value baking solutions in China and improve supply chain resilience for regional customers? 

Guelph Foods has deep knowledge of local market needs when it comes to this product category, and when combined with Puratos’s global R&D know-how and open innovation approach – working with universities, scientific communities, research partners, and customers – we can accelerate the development and production of UHT solutions tailored for China and Asia-Pacific. Our expertise and their insights create a strong platform to bring next-generation products to industrial manufacturers in the region.

At the same time, local production enhances supply chain resilience by reducing dependency on global logistics and shortening lead times. It also makes the supply chain more sustainable: producing closer to customers lowers transport-related emissions, while UHT technology extends shelf life and reduces waste. These solutions are proven through life-cycle assessment (LCA) to have a lower environmental and carbon footprint. For regional customers, the result is greater reliability, faster access to innovation, and products that deliver both operational efficiency and sustainability benefits.

Both companies highlight sustainability as a priority. What specific measures will this collaboration take to enhance sustainable production and operations? 

Sustainability is at the heart of both Puratos and Guelph Foods – we’re looking forward to optimizing operations and logistics to improve our collective environmental footprint. Local production in China will reduce transport-related emissions, while UHT technology brings efficiencies such as longer shelf life and less waste. Our plant-based egg-wash alternatives and premium whipping creams are already proven through life-cycle assessment (LCA) to have a lower environmental and carbon footprint compared to conventional options.

In addition, we will leverage GF-Impact – a joint venture of our FoodTech arm, Sparkalis – which specializes in measuring and quantifying environmental impact through LCA. This capability allows us to give customers in China and across Asia-Pacific clear insights into where negative impacts occur in their operations and products, and to work with them on practical steps to optimize for sustainability. The result is not only more resilient local supply, but also a stronger pathway for customers to achieve their own sustainability goals.

Do you see potential to expand the joint venture’s scope into other product categories or additional Asia-Pacific markets in the near future? 

Our immediate focus is on strengthening local production of UHT whipping creams and plant-based egg-wash alternatives in China, where Puratos has been present for more than 30 years. These categories address clear customer needs in terms of cost efficiency, sustainability, and supply security. This JV scope complements an already strong and dense Puratos network of more than 10 subsidiaries and factories in the region, providing our teams with additional competitive advantage. We believe, together with Guelph, we are well-set to transform the UHT category in the region.

Looking ahead, Asia-Pacific remains one of the fastest-growing regions for bakery and patisserie, so there is potential to broaden both the product portfolio and the geographic scope of the joint venture. The combination of Puratos’s global R&D expertise, Guelph’s UHT technology, and local customer insights will guide where and how we scale next, ensuring that any expansion is closely aligned with market needs.

Shraddha Warde

shraddha.warde@mmactiv.com