Following the  majority acquisition of South African food safety company, Swift Micro Laboratories, American Food safety and nutrition service oriented company, Mérieux NutriSciences has expanded Silliker for the first time to South African market, birthing a new brand name, “Swift Silliker”, for the company.

Mérieux NutriSciences plans to grow its portfolio under the new “Swift Silliker” service  to match the global offerings of Silliker. The partnership gives Swift immediate and continuous access to the state-of-the-art systems and services of Mérieux NutriSciences.

Swift is the largest privately-owned commercial food and product safety company in South Africa. Swift Micro clients include food processors, retailers and food services. The farming, government and cosmetics sectors also rely on its analytical expertise.

“To date, we have declined partnership approaches from global corporations, but the venture with Mérieux NutriSciences, and in particular Silliker, its Food Safety & Quality Division, is a natural fit. We not only share similar food and product safety approaches, but we also share global clients that operate in Southern Africa. As part of Silliker, Swift will benefit from the strength of the group, and accelerate our development with the introduction of new services for faster expansion in Africa,” said Valmé Stewart, Managing Director of Swift Silliker.

According to President and CEO of Mérieux NutriSciences, Philippe Sans;“This joint venture investment is in line with our strategic goal to further expand our international presence and answer the many requests from customers to develop a presence in South Africa and the fast developing African market.”

Formerly known as Silliker Group Corporation, Mérieux NutriSciences Corporation is an American company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with global presence in 17 countries abd over 65 laboratories in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific.