Irene Rosenfeld, the Chairwoman and CEO of Kraft Foods, officially broke the ground at Kraft’s new European biscuits R&D center.
From April 2011, these facilities will bring together around a hundred researchers in Saclay, near Paris, who are currently still based at Danone in nearby Palaiseau, three years after the takeover of Lu.
This €15 million investment will boost Kraft Foods’ capacity for innovation, with firm plans to design products, nutrition, packaging and sustainable development. As part of this initiative, cooperation with other R&D centers in Europe and in Latin-American markets will be strengthened.
France is the biggest market for Kraft Foods outside the United States. Its agri-food industry is the largest in Europe and the second-largest in the world after the United States, employing 412,500 people in over 10,000 companies.

• Find out more about the agri-food industry in France