Ingredion Incorporated is an American
multinational ingredient provider based in Westchester, Illinois,
producing mainly
starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...
es, non-GMO
sweeteners,
stevia
Stevia () is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute derived from the leaves of the plant species ''Stevia rebaudiana'', native to Paraguay and Brazil.
The active compounds are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which h ...
, and
pea protein
Pea protein is a food product and protein supplement derived and extracted from yellow and green split peas, ''Pisum sativum.'' It can be used as a dietary supplement to increase an individual's protein or other nutrient intake, or as a substitu ...
. The company turns
corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
,
tapioca
Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North Region, Brazil, North and Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast regions of Brazil, but wh ...
,
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es, plant-based stevia, grains, fruits, gums and other vegetables into ingredients for the food, beverage, brewing, and pharmaceutical industries and numerous industrial sectors.
It has about 12,000 employees in 44 locations,
and customers in excess of 120 countries.
In 2021, Ingredion was ranked second in the Modified Starch category of the Global Food Thickener Companies list and second on the Top 50 Global Sweetener Companies list by FoodTalks.
History
![CPC International logo (1997)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/CPC_International_logo_%281997%29.svg)
The company, which began as Corn Products Refining Co. and later as "CPC International," was founded by the merger of leading US corn refiners in 1906.
The company was incorporated in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
.
The company began producing Argo laundry
cornstarch
Corn starch, maize starch, or cornflour (British English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken sauces or soups, ...
in 1908 and began selling Mazola
corn oil
Corn oil (North American) or maize oil (British) is oil extracted from the germ of corn (maize). Its main use is in cooking, where its high smoke point makes refined corn oil a valuable frying oil. It is also a key ingredient in some margarines. ...
in 1911.
In 1919 Corn Products acquired Canada Starch Company (now known as Casco). During the 1920s, the company received a patent for crystalline dextrose, sold as Cerelose, opened refining operations in South America and Mexico, and began selling chocolate-flavored malt syrup Bosco. In the 1930s, Corn Products expanded operations to Asia and further in South America. It also began selling waffle syrup under the Karo name for the first time.
[
In 1958, Corn Products Refining Company merged with The Best Foods, Inc., becoming Corn Products Company. During the 1960s, the company expanded into Chile, Pakistan and Malaysia, and began producing high fructose corn syrup at the Argo plant. and in 1969 it changed its name to CPC International Inc.][
In the 1970s, CPC expanded into Africa and further into South America, while in 1981 the company constructed three North American plants in Stockton, California; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Port Colborne, Ontario.][
In 1981, CPC formed a partnership with ]Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...
to produce bioethanol at a plant in Pekin, Illinois. In 1995, the plant was sold to Williams Companies
The Williams Companies, Inc., is an American energy company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its core business is natural gas processing and transportation, with additional petroleum and electricity generation assets. A Fortune 500 company, its commo ...
.
In 1984, Canada Starch Company merged with an Ontario corn refiner to become Casco. In 1987, the company sold its starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...
factories in Europe for $600 million to the Italian French sugar manufacture Eridania Béghin-Say owned by Ferruzzi and renamed Cerestar.[ Cerestar is sold in 2002 to ]Cargill
Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in ter ...
for $1.14 billion having a turnover of $1.56 billion in 2000.
The Bestfoods
Hellmann's and Best Foods are American brand names that are used for the same line of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, sauce, salad dressing, condiments and other food products. They have been owned by the British multinational company Unilever sinc ...
division of the company known for brands Maizena
Corn starch, maize starch, or cornflour (British English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken sauces or soups ...
, Knorr, Hellmann's / Best Foods mayonnaise and Skippy Peanut Butter
Skippy is an American brand of peanut butter spread manufactured in the United States and China. First sold in 1932, Skippy is currently manufactured by Hormel, Hormel Foods, which bought the brand from Unilever in 2013. It is the best selling bra ...
existed as a division from 1958 until 1997 when CPC International renaming itself Bestfoods, focusing in packaged food products, and spun-off the corn-refining business into Corn Products International.
In October 2010, CPI acquired National Starch from Dutch paints firm AkzoNobel
Akzo Nobel N.V., stylized as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, ...
for $1.3 billion in cash. It also took on pension and employee benefit liabilities.
In 2012, the company was added to the Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
list and was renamed Ingredion. In 2014, Ingredion opened 14 Idea Labs, a global network of innovation centers where scientists work directly with customers. As of 2021, there were over 500 scientists working at 32 Idea Labs worldwide.
In 2015 they acquired Penford Corp for $340 million and then Kerr Concentrates for $100 million. Penford produced mainly potato starch
Potato starch is starch extracted from potatoes. The cells of the root tubers of the potato plant contain leucoplasts (starch grains). To extract the starch, the potatoes are crushed, and the starch grains are released from the destroyed cells. Th ...
derivatives and had a turn-over of $467 million. In 2014 it had 445 employees in six plants. Kerr Concentrates makes fruit and vegetables concentrates and purees and had a turnover of $75 million and 82 employees. In 2016 the company acquired Shandong Huanong Specialty Corn Development Co, a corn starch
Corn starch, maize starch, or cornflour (British English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken sauces or sou ...
manufacturing plant in China. Then in 2017, it acquired TIC Gums as well as Sun Flour Industry Co, a Thai rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
starch and flour company. In 2018 Ingredion began a joint venture with Verdient Foods to increase its investment in plant-based protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
s and pulse-based flours. (In 2020, Ingredion fully acquired Verdient.) Also in 2018, Ingredion began manufacturing and producing sugar alternative Astraea Allulose in Latin America. In 2019, Ingredion led the series B venture capital raising for The EVERY Company
The EVERY Company (formerly ''Clara Foods Co.'') is an American biotechnology company that develops proteins and other products traditionally sourced from animals. It does this by using yeast to convert sugar into proteins that are similar to tho ...
, a company developing an animal(chicken)-free egg white
Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms arou ...
protein based on fermentation
Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...
. They also acquired Western Polymer, a US potato starch manufacturer that produces cationic starch for the paper industry. Western Polymer employed about 70 people at 3 sites.
Ingredion acquired PureCircle in 2020, a stevia
Stevia () is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute derived from the leaves of the plant species ''Stevia rebaudiana'', native to Paraguay and Brazil.
The active compounds are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which h ...
sweeteners maker. That year they also began marketing Canadian company NorQuin's quinoa
Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and ...
products. Ingredion also invested $200 million into plant-based meat substitutes. Then in 2021, Ingredion acquired Katech, a German manufacturer of texture and stabilization solutions. The company also began joint ventures with Grupo Arcor, providing food and beverage ingredients to customers in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, and Amyris, a Brazil-based manufacturer of fermentation-derived Reb M sweetener. Ingredion also opened a new plant protein facility in South Sioux City, Nebraska, becoming the first supplier to manufacture plant protein isolate, concentrate, flour and starch products in North America. In 2022, Ingredion acquired a stake in InnovoPro, an Israeli developer of protein concentrate extracted from chickpeas.
Management
James Zallie has served as president and CEO since 2018 and as a member of the Board of Directors since 2017. He joined the company in 2010 when it acquired National Starch, where he was President in CEO. Previously with Ingredion, he was the executive vice president of global specialties and president of the Americas region. Zallie replaced Ilene S. Gordon who retired after being President and CEO from 2009 and 2017. The company employs approximately 12,000 people in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific and operates 44 manufacturing facilities in 14 countries.
Products
Ingredion’s products include sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients, and biomaterial solutions. Sweetener products include glucose syrup, high maltose syrups, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrins, and glucose and syrup solids. Since its acquisition of PureCircle, Ingredion also produces plant-based stevia sweeteners and flavors for the food and beverage industry. The company’s pea protein isolate is used with protein-fortified products for sports nutrition, bakery, snacks, alternative dairy and alternative meats.[
]
Recognition
The company was named the "World's Most Ethical Company" in 2014 by the Ethisphere Institute. In 2022, Ingredion was named to ''Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
''s "World's Most Admired Companies" list, ranking 2nd in the Food Production industry category. It was the company’s 13th consecutive year making the list. Also in 2022, Ingredion was included on ''Bloomberg''s "Gender-Equality Index" for the 5th consecutive year,["Ingredion Included in 2022 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for Fifth Consecutive Year,"]
''Bloomberg'', retrieved 22 July 2022. and earned a 95/100 on the Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...
's Corporate Equality Index The Corporate Equality Index is a report published by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as a tool to rate American businesses on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. Its primary source o ...
.
References
{{Authority control
Corporate spin-offs
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Food and drink companies established in 1906
Companies based in Cook County, Illinois
Starch companies
Grain companies of the United States
Condiment companies of the United States
1906 establishments in New Jersey
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States