DENMARK - A WORLD OF INGREDIENTS

Innovation through collaboration

• Collaboration is deeply rooted in Danish business culture – especially in the ingredients industry – and the key is a cross-disciplinary approach with a flat hierarchy.
• The Danish tradition of trust, collaboration and mutually beneficial partnerships across the Danish food cluster has built new knowledge and innovation power, which contributes to the international competitiveness of the industry.
• According to the European Innovation Scoreboard, Denmark is an Innovation Leader. Within food, the Danish food cluster is among the most innovative in the world.

Healthy and Nutritious

• The growing need for healthy and nutritious food products is top of mind for the Danish food ingredients industry – as it is for the consumers.
• Danish ingredients companies invest heavily in research, development and new production methods to produce healthy alternatives to standard foods that do not fail on sensory quality – but taste, look and feel like the original products.
• Reformulation is high on the agenda in Denmark and Danish ingredients companies work hard to deliver ingredients that can reduce the amount of e.g. added sugar in food products.

Natural

• Natural and clean-label food, and in particular natural ingredients, is a major trend today. Not only within plant-based food products – consumers are in general increasingly demanding natural ingredients. 
• The Danish tradition for healthy and organic high quality products has naturally extended into a strong focus on natural food and natural ingredients. 

Sustainability

• Danish food and ingredients production is characterized by the ability to produce with minimal pollution, high resource efficiency and a small carbon footprint.
• Denmark excels by being able to produce more with less - and saving money at the same time.
• A cost-efficient production with a strong focus on turning waste streams into new high-value products is a trademark of the Danish food and ingredients industries. 

Valorisation of sidestreams

• Danes are always looking for good business – and making cash from trash is an appealing idea. Especially since this is also sustainable.
• Denmark is known for making the most of the world’s resources – and we are leading the way in resource efficiency and valorisation of sidestreams.

Local Sourcing

• Identifying new and local sources for ingredients that can substitute ingredients produced and imported with great environmental and economic impact contributes to a more sustainable food production – and a better bottom line for ingredients companies.
• Grass for dinner? Danish grasslands might be a useful protein source for human food and researchers from Danish universities work hard to make grass a suitable alternative to other protein sources.
• Microalgea is the new super hero and several Danish projects between academia and the industry are exploiting how to grow algea on sidestreams from food production and extract protein from algae.