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LESAFFRE & ROQUETTE combine medical research with nutritional expertise

7. Community involvement

Skills and technology transfer

Context

Concerned by the environment, balanced diet and preventive nutrition, Lesaffre and Roquette DigestScience financially support the foundation.
As a global key player in yeasts and fermentation, Lesaffre desings, manufactures and markets innovative solutions for Baking, Food taste & pleasure, Health Care and Biotechnology. Family group in northern France in 1853, now a multi-national and a multicultural company, Lesaffre employs 8 300 people.

Objectives

  • To support renowned researchers at the service of a cause of general interest: CIID’s (Chronic Inflammatory Intestinal Diseases)
  • To contribute financial support and expertise to medical research.

APPROACH

DigestScience, which has received the support of Lesaffre and Roquette since the early days, now is the only player in digestive pathologies research able to combine pharmaceutical research and nutrition science.
The role of the food-processing industry not only is obvious in the case of the celiac disease, but it is also critical in new approaches to treat CIID’s and functional colopathies. Medical research must be able to rely on the expertise held by the food processing industry on the composition, manufacturing and biochemical properties of foodstuff and ingredients. .
Roquette and Lesaffre contribute significant efforts in terms of R&D (Roquette: 3 % of its turnover invested into research, 300 researchers; Lesaffre: 1 % of its turnover invested into research, 120 researchers) and are convinced that nutrition is an aspect that helps treat and prevent these digestive diseases which are little known by the public.

Roquette and Lesaffre decided to help defend a cause of general interest through a global foundation based in Lille (France): from a financial perspective, by granting 1.5 million euros for Roquette and 2 million euros for Lesaffre, over 5 years; and from an operational perspective by being members of the Board of Directors in their own right and taking part in the Foundations’ forward-looking decisions. Through their commitment to DigestScience, Roquette and Lesaffre thus provide clinical research with new resources and intend to support ambitious food and human nutrition programmes.
Since 2009, the DigestScience foundation has issued 2 calls for research projects. It also organises workshops and conferences and publishes bi-monthly newsletters.
Each year, the foundation organises fund-raising sports events: the Testathlon, involving running, mountain biking, swimming and hiking events. Many Roquette group employees take part in these events. The year 2015 will be the 10th edition of Testathlon to be held October 17, 2015.

Best practice selected by the World Forum for a Sustainable Economy in 2010 and updated in 2015 for its evolution.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

  • Image of a good corporate citizen that supports medical research
  • Pride of belonging to the Roquette & Lesaffre groups

Benefits

  • Supports research in a province where the number of new cases of CIID’s increases each year (+28% over 20 years)
  • Testathlon: each year, participation of the employees of the Roquette Group’s French sites (250 in 2012)
Workforce
8,300 (2015)
Turnover
1.6 milliards euros (2015)
Country
France

LESAFFRE

137, rue Gabriel Péri
59708 MARCQ EN BAROEUL

www.lesaffre.com

Contact

Anne LAMBIN, Responsable Développement Durable, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; Marie-Gabrielle BAILLY, Chargée de mission Développement Durable, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mise à jour le 23/05/2016

Creative Commons Attribution This work by Réseau Alliances – World Forum Lille is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.