Mérieux NutriSciences has also bought Allabor Laboratorios (Allabor) in Brazil.
The firm now has 21 laboratories in South America strengthening its network of private analytical laboratories on the continent.
Promising market development
Eugenio Luporini, managing director, South America, Mérieux NutriSciences, said Chile is among the largest markets in Latin America, with the highest growth rate.
“The economy is stable and the development of the food safety market is promising,” he told FoodQualityNews.
“We are present in South America since 2008 with several labs in Brazil but food safety issues also affect other countries like Chile; operating two labs in Chile will enable us to provide an expanded portfolio of services in the region.
“South America is a large food producer…it provides a lot of food commodities to the rest of the world: agricultural raw materials, meat, fish products. We are very confident that this market will continue to grow.
“The acquisition of Allabor will enable us to reinforce our service offering in meat and poultry testing; we will thus become the market leader in this area in Brazil. With the acquisition of Labser, Mérieux NutriSciences will improve its capabilities in wine and salmon testing especially for the export market.”
Allabor and Labser will be transitioned into the Mérieux NutriSciences network and their respective 200 and 172 employees will join the other 6,000 of the group.
Philippe Sans, president and CEO of Mérieux NutriSciences said, the investments go along its strategy to expand in high growth potential markets.
“Moreover, the addition of Allabor to our Brazilian network of laboratories will allow Mérieux NutriSciences to expand its capabilities especially for the growing export market.”
About Labser and Allabor
Labser was founded in 2001 as part of Veterquimica, a feed and veterinary business, and provides microbiology and chemistry analyses for the food, aquaculture, dairy, mollusks, livestock and agro industry.
It operates a lab in Rancagua, in the O’Higgins region, benefiting from a 3000 m² site, with an area dedicated to the determination of dioxins, furans as well as PCBs, and a second lab in Puerto Montt, in Los Lagos region.
Allabor, founded in 2006, has one lab in Toledo, Parana State, Brazil and offers food testing, water and environmental services as well as residues analyses.
Employing close to 200 people, the company provides food microbiology and physical-chemistry services with an expertise on poultry, meat and water.
“Merging Allabor with Mérieux NutriSciences will reinforce our organization to support the Brazilian food industry with the largest scope of services, the strongest network of laboratories and the densest logistic organization,” said Mauricio F. Macedo, technical director of Allabor.