IFF R&D Center OCt 1981

Our History

It all started with a simple plan in 1889 at a kitchen table when Josef Polak and Leopold Schwarz joined forces to create Pollak & Schwartz, a producer of fruit flavors and oil essences. It wasn’t long before this Netherlands-based start-up became the most important essence producer of the time in Europe. Soon after the start of World War II, circumstances led the brothers-in-laws to merge with Van Ameringen-Haebler, Inc. a U.S.-based company, headed by Arnold Louis (“A.L.”) van Ameringen, a former P&S employee. Focusing primarily on fragrances, van Amerigen-Haebler Inc. was a strong complement to P&S’s offerings.

From humble beginnings to a leader in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, health and biosciences, we’ve expanded over these past 135 years. However, we will always be the family that sits together at a table, imagining innovative ways to bring experiences to people around the world.

Side Panel Image_History Page

A.L. van Ameringen

From P&S salesman to IFF chairman

Visionary

A former employee, he brought P&S to America, charting IFF’s course of science & innovation and becoming the only large flavor & fragrance house in the U.S.

Businessman

In 1920s, he persuaded American soap manufacturers to add fragrances to products, revolutionizing the industry and deepening the relationship between scent and household products

Humanitarian

A mental health philanthropist, he established the van Ameringen Foundation in 1950 and was a benefactor to a number of organizations throughout his life
trio of van amerigen

To catapult IFF into the future, van Ameringen guided the company into going public in October 1964. Soon afterwards he stepped down as president, choosing Henry “Hank” G. Walter, Jr. as his successor. The first one to buy IFF stock, Walter led IFF through exponential growth, moving deeper into global markets, leveraging a period of geographic and cultural discovery that fueled the flavors and fragrances business on a global scale. IFF expanded into creating flavors that delighted consumers in products ranging from cake mixes, gelatin desserts, and candies to pharmaceutical products, soft drinks and more.

April 1964

Leading Breakthroughs

Innovations that that bring delight and ease to our world

Technology

Using a revolutionary process of inking with microencapsulation, IFF produced the first scent strips used in children’s “scratch-n-sniff” books

Creativity

Produced the first all-natural flavor ingredient on an industrial scale by pure culture, sterile fermentation

Bioscience

First successful commercialization of a protein-engineered laundry detergent enzyme, laying the groundwork for a whole new category of biotech products.
Small batch chemical room-NJ plant

Leading with R&D

From the late 1960’s to the 1980’s, IFF soared to new heights, as the clear international leader in flavors and fragrances. The Company began investing heavily in research and development, a practice that would become its legacy. By the start of the 1970’s more than half of IFF sales would come from international markets. Throughout the decades, IFF continued to expand, deepening its roots in the regions and embracing local talent to direct the Company on fragrance and flavor trends that would delight a diverse array of consumers, worldwide.

Leading with R_D Image Jan 25

From the Archives

polaktruck
Fragrance Ad. Ludwig II’s Castle Bavaria
New chemical evaluation panel Mar 1977
Jan 1991
P&S-bottle
IFF Fragrance Puts Your Product Here.Hairspray

Our Legacy Companies

We stand on the shoulders of giants. The  combinations and mergers throughout our more than 135-year history have enhanced our ability to provide leading innovations to our customers and the market

Bushboakeallen

Bush Boake Allen

LMR logo

Laboratoire Monique Remy

Otten Flavors

Otten Flavors

David Micheal & Company

David Michael & Company

Frutarom

Frutarom

DuPont-Logo-700×394

Dupont Nutrition & Biosciences

Our Innovation Timeline

1980

In collaboration with Yale University’s Psychophysiology Department, IFF pioneers the concept of Aroma Science, studying the effect of fragrance on human emotions.

timeline-slide1

1985

IFF scientist Dr. Braja Mookherjee invented the Living Flower® technology. Through the use of Solid Phase Micro Extraction™, which enabled IFF to capture and study the aroma components of a flower at its peak and re-create the fragrance, changing the way perfumes were created.

Living flower

1990

IFF breaks ground – R&D center in Union Beach, NJ, including its 5,000-square-foot greenhouse and botanical garden, which can maintain tropical and subtropical temperature zones for more than 1,300 varieties of exotic plants

greenhouse union beach

1995

IFF launches Living Flavor® technology, capturing the aroma and flavor of fruits, vegetables, and spices. The technology wins Food Ingredients’ Best Marketing Achievement award, Food and Beverage Marketing’s Innovator of the Year award, and Food Processing’s Honors Award.

Living technology

1998

IFF sends a miniature rose plant, “Overnight Scentsation,” aboard NASA’s STS-95 Discovery to determine how the flower’s scent changes in zero gravity. Using Solid Phase Micro Extraction™, Dr. Mookherjee and his team were able to extract the odorous molecules from the living flower during its shuttle flight and found that the rose’s scent radically changed at zero gravity. They were then able to reproduce in the lab a variety of heavenly fragrances previously unknown to the human senses of taste and smell. IFF was able to commercialize that “heavenly” scent in Zen, the fragrance launched by Shiseido.

nasa flower

2001 

IFF Hydroponics breaks new ground in natural products research with the addition of a 1,300 square feet hydroponic greenhouse to the existing R&D greenhouse. The new greenhouse enables IFF to provide customers with fragrances and flavors that promote health and wellness.

Hydroponic greenhouse

2002

IFF opened a Perfumery School in its New York headquarters, under the direction of industry veteran Ron Winnegrad.

Ron with Perfumers

2011

IFF released its first sustainability report, “The Essence of IFF” in 2011. In 2012, IFF adopted the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry as an important differentiator in product design and development.

soluition-thumb1-1

2016

IFF announces a partnership with ISIPCA, the world-renowned French school of perfumery, cosmetics and food flavors, to establish a new three-year master’s program in scent design and creation at ISIPCA’s Versailles, France campus. -https://ir.iff.com/news-releases/news-release-details/iff-and-isipca-form-industry-first-partnership-world-class

ISIPCA students

2021

With the merging of Dupont’s Nutrition & Biosciences business, IFF strengthens its position as a leader in high-value ingredients and solutions for global Food & Beverage, Home & Personal Care and Health & Wellness markets

Health & Biosciences

2024

Erik J. Frywald joins IFF as the Chief Operating Officer, ushering in a new era of IFF

Erik Fyrwald
IFF R&D Center OCt 1981

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