As one of the fastest growing markets for the food and beverage industry, the Middle East is a very important region, says Wild Flavours Middle East FZE.

In line with investments and the forthcoming opening of a production facility in Dubai, Wild recently exhibited new concepts for non-alcoholic malt beverages and innovative fruit mixes for nectars with a fruit content of 15 to 30 per cent at the Gulfood exhibition held in Dubai.
The company also exhibited natural ingredients for lifestyle drinks and new concepts for milk and juice beverages aimed at the growing target group of young innovative consumers looking for new taste experiences.
Combinations of fruits included kiwi-lime, red orange-mango-pomegranate, red orange-pink guava-pomegranate, yellow fruit mixes and red berry mix.  
Wild also presented the Malt Plus X non-alcoholic beverage concept. “This concept is based on the use of a clear malt concentrate in combination with the natural fruit sweetener Fruit Up as well as natural flavours such as apple, ginger or peach, creating a unique taste experience,” says a company spokesman. “Thanks to the clear fruit-concentrate sweetener, Malt Plus X drinks have a full-bodied flavour, are less sweet, and have a low calorie content of only 20 kcal/100 ml. These products can also be supplemented with minerals, such as calcium or magnesium.”
Germany-based Wild, the largest privately owned supplier of natural flavour ingredients for the food and beverage industry, was founded by Rudolf Wild in 1931. Today the company portfolio covers flavour systems, extracts, fruit and vegetable preparations, colours, concentrates, sweetening systems and specialty ingredients such as functional flavours. With 2,500 employees, Wild is dedicated to creating innovative solutions. It has 16 manufacturing facilities and more than 70 companies and representative offices around the world.
This year the company will be opening its first manufacturing facility in the Middle East. The plant, which is currently under construction in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai, will have an annual capacity of 75,000 tonnes and cater for the markets of the GCC, Levant, North Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. Wild is investing about Dh 100 million in the launch phase of its manufacturing facility and intends to invest more capital within the next five years. It is the first international food ingredients company to open a manufacturing facility in the Middle East. Customers will benefit from local product development and shorter production lead times.