International Flavors and Fragrances

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cosmetic active and natural health ingredients for use in various consumer products in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Greater Asia, North America, and Latin America. It operates through Nourish, Scent, Health & Biosciences, and Pharma Solutions segments. 

The Nourish segment offers natural and plant-based speciality food ingredients, such as flavour compounds, and savory solutions and inclusions. It also provides natural food protection ingredients consisting of natural antioxidants and anti-microbial as well as beverages, sweets, and dairy products. The Scent segment provides fragrance compounds, which include fine fragrances comprising perfumes and colognes, as well as consumer fragrances; fragrance ingredients comprising synthetic and natural ingredients that could be combined with other materials to create fragrance and consumer compounds; and cosmetic active ingredients consisting of active and functional ingredients, botanicals, and delivery systems to support its customers' cosmetic and personal care product lines. 

The Health & Biosciences segment develops and produces enzymes, food cultures, probiotics, and speciality ingredients. The Pharma Solutions segment produces and sells cellulosic and seaweed-based pharma excipients. The company sells its products primarily to manufacturers of perfumes and cosmetics, hair and other personal care products, soaps and detergents, cleaning products, dairy, meat and other processed foods, beverages, snacks and savoury foods, sweet and baked goods, dietary supplements, infant and elderly nutrition, functional food, and pharmaceutical excipients and oral care products. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. was founded in 1833 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

International Flavors & Fragrances was formed in 1958 by the merger between Polak & Schwarz and van Ameringen-Haebler. Polak & Schwarz was founded in 1889 by Leopold Schwarz, who had an interest in spices, flavours, and fragrances, and his brother-in-law, Joseph Polak in the small Dutch town of Zutphen. P&S quickly grew to 36 sites globally. Arnold Louis van Ameringen was hired by Polak & Schwarz to open P&S's US office in 1917 before losing his job with them. Relieved of his duties, he opened van Ameringen & Co. at 13 Gold Street in Manhattan, took over Morana, Inc. in 1920, and became van Ameringen-Haebler in 1929.

Constant Cornelis Brummer was a director at Polak & Schwarz during World War II. Because he saved hundreds of Jewish workers' lives, he is compared to Oskar Schindler. He was recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations in January 2017, for risking his own life to save others from the Nazis. The two companies did well through the bulk of the 20th century, despite difficulties for P&S during World War II. While both companies managed flavours and fragrances, Polak & Schwarz had particular strengths in flavours and van Ameringen-Haebler built a powerful reputation in fragrances. 

In 1958, the two companies announced their merger to become International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. IFF was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1964. It was cross-listed to the Euronext Paris Market in 2015, becoming the first US-listed company to make use of the Euronext Paris Fast Path process. In 1968, in conjunction with the Monell Foundation, IFF established the Monell Chemical Senses Center, dedicated to the research of taste and smell. In 1985, Dr Braja D. Mookherjee, a scientist at IFF, pioneered Living Flower technology, which changed the way perfumes are created. 

In 1990, IFF broke ground in its R&D facility located in Union Beach, NJ, to develop 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. It is home to a miniature rose called "Overnight Scentsation" which was cultivated for experiments in space and left the Earth during a 10-day flight on board the shuttle Discovery in 1998. Low gravity critically altered the fragrance of the rose, which was later commercialized by IFF and Shiseido. Henry G. Walter, Jr., former IFF Chairman, 1962–1985, was a noted philanthropist and prolific writer, who pioneered the field of aromatherapy. He is considered one of the most influential people in the Industry. It has been speculated that he inspired some of the storylines and characters in the book Masters of Sex by Thomas Maier, as well as the Showtime series by the same name. During World War II, his wife, Rosalind Walter worked on the night shift as a riveter on the Corsair, the F4U Marine gull-winged, fighter aeroplane, inspiring the song "Rosie the Riveter."

In 2000, IFF acquired Laboratoire Monique Rémy based in Grasse, France and forms IFF LMR Naturals, strengthening its position in the development and use of raw materials, and natural ingredients for fragrances and flavours. In 2000, IFF acquired Bush Boake Allen with its complementary products, technologies, and presence in key markets, making IFF the largest flavour and fragrance house in the world for several years.

In 2014, IFF acquired Armour Flavors and Fragrances Ltd., a privately held manufacturer and marketer of complex speciality ingredients that are used in fragrances and flavours based in Israel in Kibbutz Givat Oz. In 2015, IFF announced that it completed the acquisition of Ottens Flavors. This was followed in 2016 with the acquisition of David Michael & Company. Using this merger as a catalyst, they have since launched Tastepoint by IFF to serve dynamic middle-tier customers.

In 2015, IFF acquired Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, a cosmetic activities firm based in Canada that develops, manufactures and markets innovative ingredients for the cosmetic and personal care industry.IFF has creative, sales, and manufacturing facilities in 44 different countries and is a member of the S&P 500 Index. IFF is a $10.8 billion market capitalization company with a global footprint that generated over 75 per cent of its 2016 sales outside the United States and 51 percent in emerging markets. In 2014, the Company celebrated its 125th anniversary year, from the founding of Polak & Schwarz on January 27, 1889, in Zutphen, Netherlands, to the 1958 merger with van Ameringen-Haebler to form IFF. IFF is ranked among Forbes Best Employers. 

On May 8, 2018, IFF acquired the Israeli company Frutarom for $7.1 Billion. Between 2016 and 2018, Kirsten, Finn and Jorn Rausing became the top shareholders of IFF, having bought nearly 20% of the shares via entities in Singapore and Liechtenstein. In 2019, IFF announced the merger of IFF and DuPont’s Nutrition & Biosciences business in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. The deal values the combined company at $45.4 billion on an enterprise value basis, reflecting a value of $26.2 billion for the N&B business based on IFF’s share price as of December 13, 2019.

“Bringing science and creativity together to create the food, beverage, health, biosciences and sensorial experiences the world needs.”

“Here, we boldly bring together science and creativity to create what the world needs. An industry leader in food, beverage, health, biosciences and sensorial experiences, we create essential solutions.”