Nestlé opens a global centre for culinary research in

Nestlé opens a global centre for culinary research in Singen (Germany)

Vevey/Singen, 26 January 2004 - Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Vice-Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé

S.A., today opened a new global centre for culinary research in Singen (Germany), in presence of officials from the state of

Baden-Württemberg. The Nestlé Product Technology Centre (PTC) Singen represents an investment of EUR 22 million (CHF 34.5

million). Its building was completed in a record time of only 11 months.

PTC Singen employs a staff of about 150 from 16 different nationalities. The focus of its culinary research is on condiments,

soups, sauces, mayonnaise, as well as chilled and frozen products like pasta, pizzas, doughs and prepared dishes. A further

emphasis is on the development of baby food for young children from 4-6 months up to about age 3.

PTC Singen is one of nine Product Technology Centres within the worldwide resarch and development network of the Nestlé

group, each of them dedicated to a particular product group. Their mission is to transform basic scientific knowledge

elaborated at the Nestlé Research Centre in Lausanne (Switzerland) into industrially manufacturable products. This activity

requires the vicinity of a factory.

After the sale of the Maggi factory at Kemptthal (Switzerland) to Givaudan in 2002, a new site for the PTC attached to that

factory was found on the compound of the Maggi factory in Singen. With a view to reinforcing existing synergies, the activity

of the former Nestlé R&D Centre in Weiding (Germany) in the field of wet culinary products and baby food was integrated into

the new PTC Singen.

(Photos can be downloaded from the website of Nestlé Germany at www.nestle.de > Presse > Pressemeldungen)

Contacts:
Media: François-Xavier Perroud Tel.: +41-21-924 2596
Investors: Roddy Child-Villiers Tel.: +41-21-924 3622