TRADE ASSOCIATE MEMBER UPDATE
By Barbara Wunder, FFVA communications manger
The next time you taste a cool fruit beverage, lather up with a
fragrant soap or smooth on something wonderful-smelling, think of FFVA
trade associate member Treatt USA, Inc. That’s because
there’s a pretty good chance they’re the reason something
tastes or smells particularly good.
The U.S. subsidiary of UK-based Treatt PLC, Treatt USA was
established in 1989 in Haines City as Florida Treatt, and relocated to
Lakeland in 2002 under the current name. The facility produces citrus
oil concentrates and specialties for juice and flavor enhancement as
well as an extensive selection of natural essences used for products
ranging from beverages to face cream to industrial cleaners.
Richard Court Treatt founded R C Treatt, the group’s main
operating company, in 1886. “They used to pronounce his name
‘TREE-at’ but now we just say TREAT,” said Michael
Britten-Kelly, Treatt USA’s natural products manager. “He
was quite a character – one of those romantic Englishmen who
traveled all over the world buying essential oils and exotic
foods.”
Today, Treatt operates out of the United Kingdom, the U.S. and also
in China. Treatt USA handles business within North America. In addition,
Treatt PLC recently purchased a UK-based company, EarthOil, an
organic division that is truly international, working with a cooperative
in India and maintaining operations in Kenya and South Africa. The USA
and UK centers include research laboratories, processing facilities and
extensive storage.
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Treatt USA, Inc. processes water-
melons in early June.
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Treatt USA established itself in Florida in order to be in the heart
of the citrus business. The site includes a string of labs for quality
control and research and development. The facility also provides acres
of space dedicated to processing, storage and blending oils and other
products.
An important distinction: Treatt is not a flavor and fragrance
company. It specializes in the raw materials used within the flavor and
fragrance industry and others such as food and beverages. Treatt does
not sell its products to the general public.
In early June, the company was busy processing a Florida crop that
was plentiful at that time – watermelon. Melons were unloaded from
a large truck, washed and mashed into “a watermelon soup of
sorts,” as Britten-Kelly put it. They processed about 20
truckloads of watermelon this season. Strangely enough, the watermelon
smells a bit metallic at first. Only after being aged a bit, does the
essence that is processed smell fresh. Cucumbers are much the same.
“They’re an important product,” said Britten-Kelly.
“They smell pretty much like the watermelon because they are both
cucurbits. But watermelon has a sweetness on top of it. It contains
fruit esters on top of the cucumber that gives it that nice melony
essence. Cucumber is the base for a lot of flavor compositions such as
honeydew.” The company also produces cantaloupe essences.
Other interesting essences the company sells include various peppers
– with habeneros being the most popular. “It has that fresh,
spicy impact you get when you freshly cut it but not the heat,”
said Britten-Kelly. “The heat stays behind because it’s a
distilled essence.”
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Intern Jessica Heffner works with honey in Treatt USA's
Lakeland-based laboratories.
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So what is the difference between a distilled essence and an oil? Citrus
oils are the company’s primary product. They buy orange oil from
juice processors, not the whole fruit as is the case with watermelons.
The producers extract and separate all the various pieces. Treatt works
with the oil, which is a very small part of what comes from an orange.
The process of concentrating the oil is called ‘folding.’
“Say we take 100 kilos and concentrate it to 20 kilos. What we
have then is called five-fold orange oil. We make up to a
20-fold,” said Britten-Kelly. They remove wax residue from the oil
by chilling, centrifuging, and/or filtration. And they also are very
thorough in testing for pesticide residues.
In addition to the folded citrus oil products, other treasures can be
extracted from the raw oils. Orange oil is about 97 percent d-limonene,
a chemical also known as orange terpenes. “If you take the
terpenes and distill them again, you can squeeze out things like
valencene, used to make a synthetic grapefruit flavor. We’re also
able to extract individual chemicals from the citrus.”
About 80 percent of the company’s business is in citrus oils.
Besides orange, they produce lemon and lime oils and some tangerine and
grapefruit.
The other 20 percent of Treatt’s business is the
Treattaromes™ . Those are distilled, water-based essences from
fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, honey and much more.
“That’s what you get when you open a container and smell
that lovely aroma,” said Britten-Kelly.
Treatt sources citrus oils directly from producers and uses brokers
for other raw inputs. “There are a couple of brokers we have
long-standing relations with who are able to source from all parts of
Florida,” said Steve Shelton, Treatt USA’s general manager.
“They’ll know when a crop is ready either in this area,
South Florida or further north. We try to buy Central Florida product
whenever possible because we can save on shipping.” Treatt USA
also buys raw product from Central and South America.
Lately, they have worked directly with some farmers to grow a
specific crop where there is a demand. “That way we can have the
volume we need and not have to rely on the spot market,” said
Shelton. “But it’s a risk. That’s farming. Once a
whole crop was washed out and had to be replanted.”
Treatt relies on a staff of full-time sales people at its offices as
well as a world-wide network of agents to sell product. The company
sells both large and small quantities, mostly from the extensive stock
on hand.
For additional information about Treatt USA, sister company R C
Treatt, and parent company Treatt PLC, visit the company's
website or call (863) 668-9500.