Sweet success: How Musim Mas serves the global F&B market from Singapore

With the wave of demand for healthier and more sustainable food options, consumers are paying closer attention to what goes into their food. As products such as plant-based food and dairy alternatives grow in popularity across the world, the global food tech sector is set to reach S$469 billion (US$343 billion) by 2027.

Looking towards such food trends, Musim Mas Group, one of the world’s largest integrated palm oil corporations, is innovating healthier and tastier food products in Singapore.

Singapore: The perfect ingredients for a food tech hub

Singapore’s vibrant food tech ecosystem has been dubbed the “Silicon Valley of food”, with growing support for food research. The government has recently earmarked S$60 million (US$44.5 million) to help businesses harness better technology for food production in 2021.

The Novel IDEAS Center in Singapore is Musim Mas’s first international R&D and innovation facility, developing new solutions for palm oil-based functional blends and specialty fats. These are ingredients used in a wide variety of baked goods and confectionaries such as cakes, cookies and chocolate filling.

By setting up its R&D facility here, Musim Mas joins the likes of global players, such as US alternative protein company Perfect Day, German indoor farming company &ever, and food processing solutions giant, Bühler.

“The main reason we chose Singapore is that it brings us closer to potential customers,” Mr Sam Appalasami, Head of Functional Products and Novel IDEAS Center, shares. “Some of the MNCs we work with are located in Singapore and even have their R&D facilities here, making it much easier for us to work with them.”

From Singapore, the Novel IDEAS Center synergises customer insights from international sales offices across Asia, Europe and the Americas. “Being in Singapore means we get an opportunity to interact with customers from different regions and tap into their different eating habits and trends, so we can offer solutions tailor-made for their requirements,” explains Mr Appalasami.

The Singapore lab’s position in the heart of Southeast Asia makes collaboration with two other labs in Indonesia seamless. Ms Cecilia Ng, Manager of Dairy and Frozen Desserts, shares: “We interact more with the customers, so the Singapore center is like the voice of the customers. We help to convey their needs to the other labs.”

Whipping up healthier, tastier products through innovation

Chocolate candies, sponge cakes and ice cream – Musim Mas is innovating specialised ingredients that aim to make these baked goods and sweet treats healthier for consumers.

The Novel IDEAS Center houses three application labs: a confectionary lab, bakery and Asian food lab, and frozen desserts lab. These are supported by an analytical lab that monitors the quality, safety and efficacy of new concepts, as well as a sensory room that measures a product’s impact on one’s sight, smell, taste and touch.

Together, these facilities give Musim Mas the ability to innovate new food product solutions for customers from start to end – right here in Singapore.

Pre-pandemic, “when we work with customers, we bring them here to show how we develop the solutions for them. It’s easier to bring customers into the country as we can leverage on the country’s position as a business, IT and entertainment hub—customers like to come to Singapore,” says Mr Appalasami.

In just two years, the center now has over 100 projects in the pipeline, at least 20 per cent of which are new innovations for their international customers. Early successes include dairy-free alternatives for products that are being launched in China and Israel, as well as exotic fat replacements for customers in Russia.

Another focus for Musim Mas is plant-based beverages, including research for a functional blend system to prevent sedimentation in products like soy or almond milk. The dairy alternative market in Asia-Pacific is expected to hit a value of S$27 billion (US$19.8 billion) by 2031.

For Musim Mas, this growing interest in food tech and innovation in the region has also opened doors to work with local producers for baked goods and spring rolls – creating food products tailored for the taste buds of discerning consumers in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Serving global tastes with a multicultural team

To serve customers across the globe with varying tastes, Ms Ng shares that the multicultural environment in Singapore has been an advantage. The food opinions of the international team are taken seriously, including interns.

Of the company’s 12 food scientists, 75 per cent are Singaporeans and permanent residents, who are graduates from food science programmes in local institutes of higher learning. The company also works closely with the National University of Singapore to grow talent in the food science sector, and to provide interns with hands-on experience in their labs.

“People from different cultures have different tastes and views. That helps when it comes to innovating new food products,” Ms Ng says.

Mr Appalasami looks forward to sharing these innovations with customers, once travel restrictions are lifted. Despite the uncertainties the pandemic has brought, he remains optimistic for the future. “There’s no question that the Singapore facility has contributed to our international activities. We have had some good successes, and I think this development will continue for the future.”