Chr. Hansen Awarded New Patent, Seeks to Sell Food IngredientsOperations

Chr. Hansen Awarded New Patent, Seeks to Sell Food IngredientsOperations

MILWAUKEEThe U.S. Patent andTrademark Office issued a patent (No. 6,787,348) to Chr. Hansen for Liquid starter cultureshaving improved storage stability and use thereof. The newly issued patent isthe latest in a number of patents Chr. Hansen (www.chr-hansen.com) owns onstarter cultures and lactic acid bacteria, as well as patents on colors,enzymes, wine cultures and other ingredients. This patent is one moreillustration of Chr. Hansens commitment to providing the food industry withresearch-driven innovations, said David R. Carpenter, Chr. Hansens (North America) senior vice president of sales andmarketing.

Chr. Hansens primary objective for the new invention is tosupply commercial liquid microbial starter cultures that can be stored at thedairy, food or feed manufacturing plant for extended periods of time withoutsignificant loss of their initial metabolic activity. These culture productscould contain mixtures or single strains of such lactic acid bacteria as Lactobacillus,Lactococcus and Streptococcus,which are used for cheese, yogurt and other fermented milk products.

In other news, the Board of Chr. Hansen Holding isinvestigating the possibility of selling the global Food Ingredients activities.The objective of such a sale is to merge the competences and organization ofChr. Hansen Food Ingredients into a new ownership structure thereby creating aneven stronger platform for a continued positive development of the business.

The Food Ingredients operations of Chr. Hansen include allcultures, enzymes, colors, flavors, seasonings, sweeteners, animal health, andhuman health activities and sites.

We believe that we have untapped opportunities that willmaterialize better and more efficiently in a new and larger structure, and haveset out on this course in order to be able to continue to add value to ourcustomers, said Erik Soerensen, chief executive officer of Chr. HansenHolding. Chr. Hansen is a strong brand and our solutions are both highlydemanded and regarded. The business relationships with customers will not beaffected while these activities are going on, according to a press release fromthe company, and the process of finding a new owner could stretch well over thenext year.