Campina has announced that it is to put its milk, yogurt and dessert research and development teams into one new organisation.

Called the International New Product Development Centre (INPD), the new department will operate from 1 September.

In January 2003 the INPD will move to a new R&D centre at Wageningen in the Netherlands. It will house employees from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. The milk, yogurt and dessert departments will retain small individual R&D teams.

Toon van Hooijdonk, Campina R&D director said: “Our current R&D work is too fragmented to be truly successful.” He added: “Campina wants to play a leading role in liquid milk in Western Europe. This means we have to invest in new products for the long term.”