IFF strengthens Latin America presence with enzyme hub, application lab

LATIN AMERICA – IFF is expanding its footprint in Latin America through a dual investment strategy targeting enzyme production and application development, as the company seeks to capitalize on rising demand for health, food and industrial bioscience solutions.

The initiative includes the transformation of its Arroyito site in Argentina into the company’s first full fermentation-based enzyme production hub in the region, alongside the launch of a new household care application laboratory at its Innovation Center in Brazil.

Together, these developments are designed to enhance production efficiency, innovation speed and local responsiveness across key industries.

According to Letícia Gonçalves, president of IFF’s Health & Biosciences (H&B) division, the investment reflects a broader strategy of localizing advanced capabilities to better serve regional markets.

She noted that bringing fermentation and application expertise closer to customers will help translate scientific innovation into tangible benefits across food, cleaning and everyday consumer products.

The Arroyito expansion marks a significant shift in IFF’s regional operations, enabling the company to produce enzymes from the initial biological fermentation stage rather than relying primarily on downstream processing.

This capability is expected to improve product consistency, enhance operational efficiency and allow faster adaptation to evolving customer requirements in sectors such as brewing, animal nutrition, biofuels and home care.

Fermentation technology remains central to IFF’s approach, using controlled biological processes to deliver high-performance enzymes while reducing environmental impact.

The localization of production is also expected to strengthen supply chain resilience and reduce lead times for customers across Latin America.

Complementing the production hub, the new application laboratory in Brazil is focused on advancing innovation in home and personal care.

The facility will support testing and optimization of enzyme-based formulations for laundry and dishwashing applications under real regional conditions.

This enables more accurate product development, faster validation cycles and closer collaboration with customers.

Deia Vilela, vice president of Latin America for IFF H&B, highlighted the region’s strong growth potential, noting that deeper partnerships and local capabilities are key to unlocking long-term innovation and shared value.

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