With its new research and innovation center, Danone is thinking about the food of tomorrow

Lucie de Perthuis 9:55 a.m., February 6, 2023

The French are the second largest yogurt consumers in the world.

The current trend concerns high-protein products, a buoyant market where Danone is the leader.

The French giant does not intend to stop there.

This Monday, he is also inaugurating his new research and innovation center.

The building is located on the Paris-Saclay plateau, in Essonne.

22,000 square meters, 550 employees and an artificial stomach to think about the food of the future.

Europe 1 takes you into immersion on the site.

Consider the health effects

It's hard to believe that here, in the midst of microscopes and researchers in white coats, we design the yoghurts of tomorrow.

"We can test everything. We are working on fermentation. We have a unique library of more than 1,900 strains which allows us to select the ferments which will allow the product to have the right texture, the right taste and the right color", details Taous Lassel, spokesperson for Danone.

"The objective is also for it to be better digested, even for it to have positive effects on health, for example, with probiotics on immunity."

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The products are tested by the centre's scientific teams, in particular thanks to Tim, a robot, the size of a cupboard, made of pipes and pumps which is in fact an artificial stomach.

“We are going to put our yogurt, we are going to imitate at the laboratory level the passage through the mouth, the stomach and the small intestine”, explains Anne Druesne, technician in intestinal microbiology.

"It will help us to see if the lactic acid bacteria will be able to survive intestinal transit and arrive alive at the exit of the small intestine."

The products designed in this laboratory can then be tested by consumers on site before being marketed if they are unanimous.