ST. LOUIS — Bunge North America has opened the Bunge Ingredient Innovation Center (BIIC) for Edible Oils & Carbohydrates in Bradley, Ill. The center combines Bunge’s food ingredient innovation and pilot plant facilities into one location.

The center includes a scaled-down version of an edible oil plant capable of creating shortenings, oils and other products used by food manufacturers, bakeries and restaurants. An extrusion pilot plant may be used to test snack food and cereal applications made from milled grain products.

“We now have the ability to configure customer-specific extruded snack, cereal and ingredient applications on site,” said Brian Anderson, director, innovation and technical services, Bunge Milling.

The center houses bakery applications, analytic and sensory laboratories.

“Our team of 25 scientists and support staff has created an award-winning portfolio to address concerns about trans fat in shortenings as well as the need for whole grain products,” said Roger Daniels, director, research and development, Bunge Oils. “With the BIIC, our customers will be able to test how these solutions improve the nutritional profile and performance of their existing products or work with our experts to develop new products.”

Bunge North America, based in St. Louis, is the North American operating arm of Bunge Ltd.