Cargill Unveils Wichita Sensory Center

Coinciding with football season’s kickoff around the country, Cargill has taken the wraps off  its new Wichita, Kan., sensory center earlier this month. The 5,000-square-foot, million-dollar addition to the company’s North American meat business headquarters will conduct product testing for new and improved beef, pork and turkey products, in addition to other related products. Located on the first floor of the company's 10-story office building at 151 North Main Street, the sensory center relocated from Cargill’s north Wichita facility that was sold earlier in 2010.

“This is the first step in centralizing our meat business activities into the downtown area, and will be followed by the completion of our Cargill Innovation Center next summer,” noted Jody Horner, Cargill Meat Solutions president. “The sensory center helps us improve our products by enabling us to better understand what consumers like, which also helps our customers grow their meat business. This is an important element in the overall equation necessary for producing and selling better meat products.”

Sensory panels will include Cargill employee volunteers who will sample both new and improved products. Data gathered from panels will influence potential changes that will find their way onto the fresh meat counter, deli or frozen food aisles of grocery retailers and foodservice providers such as restaurants. The facility employs the most sophisticated technology available to conduct panel sampling and is part of the company’s research and development group, which will also manage the new downtown innovation and culinary center.

For more information, visit www.cargill.com.