CHICAGO--Two industry powerhouses, Cognis Nutrition & Health and WILD Flavors, Inc., invite industry colleagues to participate in a free, live Webcast filled with information on boosting profits with better tasting and healthier foods and beverages. Participants will learn which key ingredients address consumers’ top health concerns and how these products can add to the success of a company’s portfolio.

The one-hour Webcast will be on Wednesday, Sept. 13, at 2 pm EDT/1 pm CDT. Sponsored by Cognis and WILD, the Webcast is offered through Virgo Publishing’s Food Product Design magazine.

Recently, Cognis, a global supplier of natural, health-enhancing ingredients, and WILD, a worldwide supplier of natural flavor and color ingredients, announced an agreement to jointly develop innovative flavor systems with health benefits. “This Webcast gives our customers and prospects an opportunity to hear first-hand how they can benefit from the combined expertise of two industry leaders,” said Scott Backman, Cognis’ Market Development Manager, Functional Food and Food Technology.  “We encourage them to listen in and e-mail their questions, which we will answer during a live Q&A following our presentations.”

WILD’s Greg Horn, Senior Director, Technology and Innovation, explained that in the Webcast “We will suggest ways to avoid costly and time-consuming formulation pitfalls as well as shorten the development curve for new products. Scott and I will share insights on how to capture incremental sales in the $81 billion functional food and beverage market.”

Registration for the live Webcast is free. Additional information and registration details are available at www.foodproductdesign.com. For questions about the Webinar, contact Amy Sharman, Marketing Manager for Food Product Design, at (480) 990-1101 ext. 1543 or asharman@vpico.com.

About Cognis

Cognis Nutrition & Health (www.cognis.com), a business unit of Cognis Group, offers one of the industry’s largest portfolios of natural-source, health-enhancing ingredients for dietary supplements, functional foods, medicinal nutrition, pharmaceutical and health care products. Cognis provides science-based products to meet today’s most pressing health needs with a broad range of branded ingredients including Tonalin® CLA, Vegapure® natural plant sterols and sterol esters, Xangold® natural lutein esters, Betatene® natural mixed carotenoids, Covitol® natural-source vitamin E, and Covi-ox® natural antioxidants. Just recently, Cognis announced the addition of omega-3 fish oils to its product line.

Cognis is a worldwide supplier of innovative specialty chemicals and nutritional ingredients. The company employs about 8,000 people, and it operates production sites and service centers in 30 countries. Cognis has dedicated its activities to a high level of sustainability and delivers natural-source raw materials and ingredients for food, nutrition and health care markets, and the cosmetics, detergents and cleaners industries. Another main focus is on products for a number of other industries, such as coatings and inks, lubricants, textiles, as well as agriculture and mining. The company holds a 50-percent stake in Cognis Oleochemicals, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of oleochemicals.

Cognis is owned by private equity funds advised by Permira, GS Capital Partners, and SV Life Sciences. In 2005, Cognis recorded sales of 3.18 billion euros and an Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation, amortization and exceptional items) of 356 million euros.

About WILD

In the United States, WILD Flavors, Inc. (www.wildflavors.com), Cincinnati, delivers innovative flavor, color, ingredient system and process technology solutions to the food and beverage industry. The company is privately-held through Dr. Hans-Peter Wild’s ownership. WILD continues to provide innovative and great tasting concepts as well as ingredients through application expertise and technological advancements.

The WILD portfolio covers flavors, flavor systems, extracts, fruit and vegetable preparations, concentrates, seasonings, natural colors, health & wellness ingredients, sweetening systems and specialty ingredients such as functional flavors. WILD and Allied Companies worldwide have 2,500 employees and operate 14 manufacturing facilities and 70 offices around the world.

About Food Product Design and Virgo Publishing

Recently celebrating its 15th anniversary, Food Product Design delivers practical, use-it-now, take-it-to-the-bench editorial to those in the food industry who develop products for retail, foodservice and functional food markets. Subscribed to by more than 30,000 R&D and corporate management professionals, Food Product Design is the industry's leading product development content and information source.

Food Product Design is now part of Phoenix-based Virgo Publishing. Virgo produces the SupplySide Trade Shows and Conferences, the Focus on the Future Executive Conference and Retreat, and the training Web site nutrilearn.com; and publishes Food Product Design, Natural Products INSIDER and HSR: Health Supplement Retailer magazines.

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