Muntons visit 2015

Women in Flavour and Fragrance Companies UK (WFFC) organised a visit to Muntons in Stowmarket on 8th October. The WFFC kindly invited BSF members to attend and a number came along.

The hosts from Muntons, Gary Lancaster and Jonathan Pritchard, gave a PowerPoint presentation at the start of the tour covering the market for malt extract, the important position that Muntons holds in the market and an overview of the manufacturing process. One could not fail to be impressed by the efficiencies that Muntons has built into their processes giving them the ability to manufacture 80,000 tonnes of product per annum from locally sourced barley at Stowmarket. Even more impressive is the carbon saving sustainable systems that they have adopted reducing the carbon footprint in both the supply chain and in the manufacturing process.

The visitors were divided into small groups and taken around the production process followed by a visit to the Centre of Excellence, a purpose built facility undertaking product development and innovation of malt and malted ingredients and retail products. Of greatest interest to the flavour people present was the tasting of the range of malt extracts and their use to flavour a range of food products. Malt extracts can significantly influence the character of food products at surprisingly low levels of application making them richer and more succulent. The most popular part of the visit for some of the more alcoholically inclined visitors (no names mentioned) was the visit to the pilot brewery.

The BSF would like to thank the WFFC, especially Charlotte Catignani, for organising the visit and Gary Lancaster, Jonathan Pritchard and the other staff of Muntons for giving the visitors a most interesting and entertaining day and for providing a substantial buffet lunch.