Nutrition & Health
BASF’s Nutrition & Health division develops, produces and markets ingredients for the nutrition and health industries. Our products fulfill the highest safety, regulatory and sustainability standards. Together with our customers, we play an active part in enhancing the nutrition and health of consumers all over the world.
Sales by region 2022 (location of customer)
Sales by direct customer industry 20221
1 Aroma ingredients business is included in the customer industries nutrition and others.
Aroma ingredients
BASF offers a wide variety of aroma ingredients, such as L-menthol, geraniol, citronellol and linalool, which are part of our citral value chain. In 2019, we broadened our portfolio with renewable-based natural ingredients by acquiring Isobionics®. Our aroma ingredients are sold to the flavor and fragrance industry for use mainly in home and personal care products, in fine fragrances and in the food industry.
Nutrition ingredients
BASF is one of the leading suppliers of feed additives for livestock and companion animals. The focus is on supplying the feed industry with highly effective products like vitamins, carotenoids, enzymes and organic acids. We offer our customers ingredients that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve resource efficiency as well as animal wellbeing. Digital technologies increasingly expand our portfolio. Examples include Opteinics™ (software for more sustainable production), trinamiX (mobile NIR spectroscopy solution) and Cloudfarms (pig management system).
Our health ingredients for human nutrition are based on a combination of scientific approach and technical and application expertise that contribute to leading healthy and active lifestyles. Our ingredients comprise vitamins, carotenoids, conjugated linoleic acid, omega-3 natural oils and powders, and plant sterols. They are used for a wide range of applications in strategic market segments including early life nutrition, dietary supplements, functional nutrition and food colors.
In our food fortification initiative, our health ingredients help fortify staple foods to combat micronutrient deficiencies across the world. Furthermore, we offer a comprehensive performance ingredient portfolio for the beverage and food industry. Our products are used as stabilizers or colorants in various applications and include emulsifiers, enzymes, filtration aids and specialty compounds.
Pharma solutions
In pharma solutions, we produce innovative excipients and active ingredients of outstanding quality and performance. With digital solutions such as the Virtual Pharma Assistants and a global team of industry experts, BASF supports its customers in developing efficient, cost-effective and reliable formulations. Equipped with an in-depth understanding of multiple technologies and applications, we have the knowledge and resources to make biologics and drug manufacturing as well as delivery safer and more sustainable.
The Nutrition & Health division holds one of the top three market positions in all strategic business areas in which it is active.
The main competitors (alphabetical order) include Ashland, Croda, DSM-Firmenich, IFF, NHU and ZMC.
Together with our partners, we continuously work on translating ideas into innovations. Ongoing process innovation ensures technological and cost leadership in our major product lines.
(from 2020 onward)
| Product group | Description | Year |
| Animal nutrition | Acquisition of Cloudfarms, Slovakia | 2020 |
| Expansion of vitamin A production plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany | 2021 | |
| Enzymes | Capacity expansion of enzyme plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany | 2021 |
| Investment in production setup for bacterial enzymes and biotechnology products, Kundl/Schaftenau, Austria1 |
2024 | |
| Pharma solutions | Expansion of ibuprofen production in Bishop, Texas | 2020 |
1 Joint investment with Care Chemicals division
(from 2020 onward)
| Product group | Site | Year |
| Human nutrition | Divestiture of site in Kankakee, Illinois, and associated businesses of vegetable-oil-based pharmaceutical raw material sterols, natural vitamin E, anionic surfactants and esters | 2021 |
| Pharma solutions | Divestiture of Kalundborg site, Denmark, omega-3 production | 2020 |
| Product group | Site |
| Animal nutrition | Gunsan, South Korea; Ludwigshafen, Germany; Shenyang, China |
| Aroma ingredients | Geleen, Netherlands; Kuantan, Malaysia; Ludwigshafen, Germany |
| Human nutrition | Ballerup, Denmark; Boussens, France; Cheltenham, Hutt Lagoon and Whyalla, Australia; Gunsan, South Korea; Illertissen and Ludwigshafen, Germany |
| Pharma solutions | Bishop, Texas; Callanish, United Kingdom; Sandefjord, Norway |
Virtual Pharma Assistants for a fully digitized customer experience
BASF’s Virtual Pharma Assistants offer a seamless, fully digitized customer experience that enables customers to create formulations faster, find the right product for their needs and access a comprehensive library of compliance documentation. A growing number of customers rely on ZoomLab™, a virtual formulation assistant that predicts optimized formulations of pharmaceutical drugs much faster and more precisely than traditional empirical methods. ZoomLab™ instantly predicts which excipients should best be used based on properties of the active ingredient and the intended dosage form. After selecting the appropriate formulation ingredients, RegXcellence® makes quality compliance and registration processes seamless, saving customers time and money. Finally, MyProductWorld provides a modern eCommerce platform where BASF customers can browse product details, access samples quickly and manage their product orders.