Schenectady, New York, January 11, 2008 – Fortitech, Inc., the world leader in the development of custom nutrient premixes for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries, is dramatically increasing its focus on the emerging functional food and beverage market in Africa. The company has appointed AB Mauri, a new operating division of Associated British Foods plc (ABF), as distributor to a number of African countries. The arrangement is an ideal fit for Fortitech, due to AB Mauri's impressive geographic coverage and deep knowledge-base of the African market.
"Combining AB Mauri’s vast experience within the African marketplace with our expertise and capabilities in the field of nutrient premixes will enable us to grow our businesses exponentially," said Martin Austin, managing director/general manager of Fortitech Europe ApS. "We are looking forward to developing our presence in this dynamic and growing marketplace, and delivering a superior level of customer service, as the consumer demand for fortified products continues to increase."
"AB MAURI is very excited to have Fortitech on board as this collaboration strengthens our product base to our customers in the nutritional and analytical business which is part of their South African office. Coupled with our state of the art nutritional analysis facility, George Weston Technologies in Australia and with Fortitech’s expert knowledge in the nutrition industry we can grow our businesses together to new heights", said Lizel Schwartz Business Manager: Fortification and Analytical Services for AB MAURI South Africa.
As the second-largest and second-most populous continent on the planet, Fortitech will be focusing on increasing fortification awareness and identifying new business potential throughout this dynamic region. Supporting the perceived potential for considerable growth in fortified products, the Nutrition Business Journal reports the nutrition industry overall in Africa totaled roughly USD $1.2 billion in 2006 – a 16% increase from 2005. According to the same market research, Africa had the second-fastest growing market for nutritional products in 2006, second only to Russia.
Additionally, Fortitech will be co-exhibiting with AB Mauri at the all-new Food ingredients (Fi) Africa trade show in January 2008. The first and only event of its kind in the entire continent, Fi Africa will bring together food ingredient manufacturers, suppliers and developers from all reaches of the world.
About Fortitech, Inc.
Founded in 1986, Fortitech is ISO 9001:2000 and FPA certified and meets kosher and Halal standards. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., the company has a global network of manufacturing and distribution facilities, throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Mexico and the United States (New York and California).
About AB Mauri
AB Mauri was formed in November 2004 as a new operating division of Associated British Foods plc. The company was created by bringing together the yeast and bakery ingredients businesses which ABF had acquired from Burns Philp, and the pre-existing bakery ingredient businesses of ABF, which trade under the name of Cereform. AB Mauri has its global headquarters in the UK and is organized into six geographic regions – Brazil, China East Asia Pacific, Europe, Hispanoamerica, North America and South & West Asia.