About Sensient Technologies

Sensient Technologies Corporation operates as a global manufacturer and marketer of colors, flavors, and other specialty ingredients. The company uses advanced technologies and robust global supply chain capabilities to develop specialized solutions for food and beverages, as well as products that serve the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and personal care industries. The company’s customers range in size from small entrepreneurial businesses to major international manufacturers representing some of the world’s best-known brands. The company’s principal products include flavors, flavor enhancers, ingredients, extracts, and bionutrients; essential oils; dehydrated vegetables and other food ingredients; natural and synthetic food and beverage colors; personal care colors and ingredients; pharmaceutical and nutraceutical colors, excipients, and ingredients; and technical colors, specialty colors, and specialty dyes and pigments. Segments For 2023, the company’s three reportable segments were the Flavors & Extracts Group and the Color Group, which are managed on a product line basis, and the Asia Pacific Group, which is managed on a geographic basis. Flavors & Extracts Group The company is a global developer, manufacturer, and supplier of flavor systems for the food, beverage, and personal care industries. The company’s flavor formulations are used in many of the world’s best-known consumer products. Under the unified brand names of Sensient Flavors and Sensient Natural Ingredients, the Group is a supplier to multinational and regional companies. As noted above, during the second quarter of 2021, the company divested its fragrances product line (excluding its essential oils product line). The Flavors & Extracts Group produces flavor, extracts, and essential oils products that impart a desired taste, texture, aroma, or other characteristics to a broad range of consumer and other products. This Group includes the company’s natural ingredients business, which produces dehydrated garlic, onion, and other natural ingredients for food processors. The main products of the Group are systems products, including flavor-delivery systems, and compounded and blended products. In addition, the Group has strong positions in selected ingredient products, such as essential oils, natural and synthetic flavors, and natural extracts. The Group serves food and non-food industries. In food industries, markets include savory, beverage, and sweet flavors, as well as certain bioingredients. Through April 1, 2021, in non-food industries, the Group supplied fragrances and essential oil products to the personal, homecare, and bioingredients markets. After the divestiture of the fragrances product line on April 1, 2021, the Group still produces and supplies essential oils to the personal care market. Operating through its Natural Ingredients business, which the company formerly referred to as its Dehydrated Ingredients business, it is the second largest producer (by sales) of dehydrated onion and garlic products in the United States. The company is also one of the largest producers and distributors of chili powder, paprika, chili pepper, and dehydrated vegetables, such as parsley, celery, and spinach. The company sells dehydrated products to food manufacturers for use as ingredients and also for repackaging under private labels for sale to the retail market and to the food service industry. The advanced dehydration technologies utilized by the company’s Natural Ingredients business permit fast and effective rehydration of ingredients used in many of popular convenience foods. As of December 31, 2023, the Group’s principal manufacturing plants were located in California, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Belgium, Costa Rica, Mexico, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Color Group The company is a developer, manufacturer, and supplier of colors for businesses worldwide. The company provides natural and synthetic color systems for use in foods, beverages, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals; colors and other ingredients for personal care, such as active ingredients, solubilizers, and surface treated pigments; pharmaceutical and nutraceutical excipients, such as colors, flavors, coatings, and nutraceutical ingredients; and technical colors for industrial applications. The company is one of the world’s largest producers (by sales) of synthetic and natural colors, and is the world’s largest manufacturer (by sales) of certified food colors. The company sells its synthetic and natural colors to domestic and international producers of beverages, bakery products, processed foods, confections, pet foods, personal care, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals. The company also makes industrial colors and other dyes and pigments used in a variety of non-food applications. As of December 31, 2023, the Group’s principal manufacturing plants were located in Missouri, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The Color Group operates under the following trade names: Sensient Food Colors (food and beverage colors); Sensient Pharmaceutical Coating Systems (pharmaceutical and nutraceutical colors and coatings); Sensient Cosmetic Technologies (personal care colors, ingredients, and systems); and Sensient Specialty Markets (paper colors and industrial colors for plastics, leather, wood stains, antifreeze, landscaping, and other uses). The company’s advanced process technology, laboratory facilities and equipment, application chemists, and a complete range of synthetic and natural color products constitute the basis for its market leadership position. Asia Pacific Group The Asia Pacific Group focuses on marketing the company’s diverse product lines in the Pacific Rim under the Sensient name. Through these operations, the company offers a full range of products from its Flavors & Extracts Group and Color Group, as well as products developed by regional technical teams to appeal to local preferences. Sales, marketing, and technical functions are managed through the Asia Pacific Group’s headquarters, which is located in Singapore. Manufacturing operations are located in Australia, China, India, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, and the Philippines, with sales offices also located in the India and Thailand facilities. The Asia Pacific Group maintains additional offices for local technical support and sales in China and Indonesia, as well as for research and development in Singapore. Products and Application Activities The company’s strategic focus is on the manufacturing and marketing of high-performance components that bring life to products. Accordingly, the company devotes considerable attention and resources to the development of product applications and processing improvements to support its customers’ numerous new and reformulated products. The majority of the proprietary processes and formulae developed by the company is maintained as trade secrets and protected through internal physical and information technology controls and confidentiality agreements with customers as well as confidentiality and non-competition agreements with employees. Within the Flavors & Extracts Group, development activity is focused on ingredients, flavors, natural extracts, and essential oils, as well as flavor systems that are responsive to consumer trends and the processing needs of the company’s food and beverage customers. These activities include the development of functional ingredient systems for foods and beverages, savory flavors, and ingredient systems for prepared foods and flavors and ingredients for dairy, confectionery, and other applications. The development of yeast derivatives and other specialty ingredients also provides growth opportunities in bionutrients and biotechnology markets, such as probiotics and fermented ingredients, including enzymes, vitamins, and amino acids. Within the Color Group, development activity for food and beverage product lines is focused on value-added products derived from synthetic dyes and pigments, natural food and beverage colors, and color systems. The company also produces a diverse line of colors and ingredients for personal care, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical applications, and technical colors for industrial applications. Regulation The production, packaging, labeling, and distribution of certain of the products of the company in the U.S. are subject to the regulations of various federal, state, and local governmental agencies, in particular the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Research and Development The company’s research and development costs were $48.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. History Sensient Technologies Corporation was founded in 1882. The company was incorporated in 1882 in Wisconsin.