International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF)
Creates flavors, fragrances, enzymes, cultures, probiotics, and specialty bioscience ingredients for manufacturers.
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IFF makes the taste and the smell of other companies' products — the flavor in a drink, the scent in a detergent, the living cultures in a pot of yogurt. Years of merger-building left it a sprawling food-ingredients conglomerate; now it is selling those pieces off and shrinking back to three: taste, scent and biology. The old formulas pay the bills; the biology side earns the best margin.
Item facts: Q2 FY2026 · quarter ended Jun 30, 2026, continuing businesses only, from filings, earnings calls and company pages.
Judgment weights, not filed revenue
The band summarizes business focus and direction. ~ marks estimates.
8 in detail · 7 more below
Taste
Flavors for food and drink, the largest piece of what IFF has left: $688M in the June quarter, up about 4% with double-digit growth in Asia. It also earns the thinnest margin of the three divisions.
Competes with Taste & Wellbeing (Givaudan) · Taste, Texture & Health (dsm-firmenich) · Taste & Nutrition (Kerry)
In plain English
Think of a drinks company launching an iced tea. It knows the taste it wants; it does not employ the chemists and tasters who can build that taste out of citrus oils, extracts and a long list of other ingredients. IFF does.
A brand writes a brief, IFF's flavorists compete for it, and the winning formula becomes part of the product's official recipe. After that the customer re-orders by the kilo for as long as the drink sells, because switching supplier means reworking the recipe and getting it cleared again in every market. Thousands of customers buy this way, and in 2025 not one of them was as much as a tenth of IFF's sales.
Fragrance Compounds
The finished perfumes themselves — prestige scents on one side, the smell of detergent, soap and shampoo on the other. Roughly a quarter of sales. The household side grew high single digits last quarter; the prestige side was slowed by Middle East demand.
Competes with Fragrance & Beauty (Givaudan) · Perfumery & Beauty (dsm-firmenich) · Scent & Care (Symrise)
In plain English
The fashion name on a perfume bottle sells it; someone else composes what is inside. IFF's perfumers do that work — one of them won the Miu Miu scent for L'Oréal, which holds the license to that name.
Two very different customers pay. Prestige houses buy small quantities at high value, and their orders rise and fall with launch calendars and regional demand; conflict in the Middle East held that side to slight growth last quarter, better than the decline management had braced for. Household brands are the steadier part: the smell of a laundry liquid, a soap, a fabric softener, bought in steady volume and reordered while the product stays on shelves. That side grew high single digits.
Fragrance Ingredients
The individual scent molecules that perfumes get built from, sold both to IFF's own perfumers and to rival fragrance houses. Roughly a tenth of sales, and the fastest-growing part of the fragrance division last quarter at double-digit growth.
Competes with Aroma molecules in Scent & Care (Symrise) · Fragrance ingredients arm (Givaudan) · Perfumery ingredients arm (dsm-firmenich)
In plain English
Before a perfume can be composed, someone has to make the notes it is composed from — a single molecule that smells of musk, another that smells of cut grass. Some come from plants, others are built in a chemical plant.
The odd part is who buys them. IFF's own perfumers are one customer; perfumers at rival houses are another, buying the same molecules from a company they otherwise compete against — a bakery selling flour to the bakery across the street. This was the fastest-growing part of IFF's fragrance division last quarter, up double digits, and management called the traditional synthetic molecules the strong point of it.
Home & Personal Care enzymes
Enzymes sold to detergent makers so their products clean in cold water with less soap — around 8% of sales and reckoned the largest unit in IFF's biology division. Growth is paced by how often detergent recipes get reopened.
Competes with Household Care biosolutions (Novonesis) · Industrial enzyme portfolio (BASF) · Enzyme portfolio (dsm-firmenich)
In plain English
Every load of laundry is a small chemistry problem: stains that plain water will not shift. Enzymes are proteins — tiny natural tools — each of which takes apart one kind of mess, grease or starch or grass. Put the right ones in a detergent and the wash works cold.
That is what detergent makers buy here, because cold washes and smaller, more concentrated bottles are what they advertise. IFF grows the enzymes in fermentation tanks — brewing, essentially, where the product is the protein instead of the beer — and sells them by the kilo. A detergent recipe gets reopened only now and then, which is what sets the pace of the business.
Danisco Animal Nutrition & Health
Feed enzymes and additives that get more nutrition out of the same grain, sold to feed mills and livestock farms. About 5% of sales, and one of the two units management named as driving growth in the biology division last quarter.
Competes with Animal Nutrition & Health (dsm-firmenich) · Agriculture & Animal Health biosolutions (Novonesis)
In plain English
Chickens, pigs and cows cannot digest everything in their feed; some of the phosphorus and protein goes straight through them. Mix in the right enzyme and more of it gets absorbed, so more of the feed a farmer has already bought actually does its job.
Feed mills and large livestock operations buy this by the sack, under the Danisco name. Around it sits a species-by-species kit of probiotics, essential oils and blended feed technologies. The newest item is a phytase — an enzyme aimed at dairy cattle — launched across the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific in September; IFF's own phrase for what it does is unlocking nutrients already present in feed.
Designed Enzymatic Biomaterials
A material made by enzymes from plant sugar, meant to replace ingredients made from oil; first used at full scale in a laundry product in 2025. Barely any sales, the factory is now dated 2029, and it went unmentioned on the last three earnings calls.
Competes with Biobased polymer platforms (Novonesis) · Fossil-based polymers it aims to replace (Incumbent fossil-based suppliers)
In plain English
Plant sugar goes in one end, and out the other comes a material meant to do a job normally done by something made from oil — the kind of ingredient that goes into detergents, paper and water treatment. Enzymes do the converting, using the same fermentation know-how IFF already runs.
Almost nobody is paying for it yet. One consumer-goods company put it into a laundry product at full scale in 2025, and that is the commercial record so far. The factory is a fifty-fifty venture with Kemira, which takes the paper, board and water-treatment channels, and its start has slipped to 2029 — a bet on the next decade, not a business today.
Cultures and food protection
The live cultures that turn milk into yogurt and cheese, plus natural ingredients that slow spoilage. Roughly 7% of sales, sitting in IFF's best-margin division, where a strain once cleared tends to be reordered for years.
Competes with Food & Beverage biosolutions (Novonesis) · Natural food-protection range (dsm-firmenich) · Food-protection systems (Kerry)
In plain English
Yogurt is milk plus a particular family of bacteria, left to work overnight. Which bacteria you use shapes how thick it turns out and how sharp it tastes. Dairies buy those starter cultures rather than keep their own, because the strain effectively is the recipe.
IFF keeps a library of strains and sells them to dairy and packaged-food makers, along with natural ingredients that hold off spoilage for brands that want a short ingredient list on the pack. Clearance from regulators and the work of proving a strain performs make these long-lived products: once a yogurt tastes right, the orders repeat for years. This sits inside IFF's best-margin division.
HOWARU probiotics and supplement ingredients
Probiotics and supplement ingredients sold under the HOWARU name — about 5% of sales. Small, and being built up: management points to Procter & Gamble's announced plan to buy Thorne as a sign of interest in the category.
Competes with Human Health biosolutions (Novonesis) · Probiotic strain portfolio (ADM) · Documented probiotic strains (Lallemand)
In plain English
Bacteria you swallow on purpose. Probiotics go into capsules, powders and drinks with a health claim on the label, and every country polices those claims differently. IFF does not sell the capsule; it sells the bacteria inside it to the brands that do.
Price depends on paperwork. A strain that has been through clinical studies, and can therefore be named and claimed for, is worth more than an anonymous one, so IFF sells documented strains under the HOWARU name and keeps funding the studies that document them. It is a small line inside a big company, and management says it is strengthening the team behind it.
TasteFlavors for food and drink, the largest piece of what IFF has left: $688M in the June quarter, up about 4% with double-digit growth in Asia. It also earns the thinnest margin of the three divisions.Flavors for food and drink, the largest piece of what IFF has left: $688M in the June quarter, up about 4% with double-digit growth in Asia. It also earns the thinnest margin of the three divisions.
In plain English
Think of a drinks company launching an iced tea. It knows the taste it wants; it does not employ the chemists and tasters who can build that taste out of citrus oils, extracts and a long list of other ingredients. IFF does.
A brand writes a brief, IFF's flavorists compete for it, and the winning formula becomes part of the product's official recipe. After that the customer re-orders by the kilo for as long as the drink sells, because switching supplier means reworking the recipe and getting it cleared again in every market. Thousands of customers buy this way, and in 2025 not one of them was as much as a tenth of IFF's sales.
Competes with Taste & Wellbeing (Givaudan) · Taste, Texture & Health (dsm-firmenich) · Taste & Nutrition (Kerry)
Fragrance CompoundsThe finished perfumes themselves — prestige scents on one side, the smell of detergent, soap and shampoo on the other. Roughly a quarter of sales. The household side grew high single digits last quarter; the prestige side was slowed by Middle East demand.The finished perfumes themselves — prestige scents on one side, the smell of detergent, soap and shampoo on the other. Roughly a quarter of sales. The household side grew high single digits last quarter; the prestige side was slowed by Middle East demand.
In plain English
The fashion name on a perfume bottle sells it; someone else composes what is inside. IFF's perfumers do that work — one of them won the Miu Miu scent for L'Oréal, which holds the license to that name.
Two very different customers pay. Prestige houses buy small quantities at high value, and their orders rise and fall with launch calendars and regional demand; conflict in the Middle East held that side to slight growth last quarter, better than the decline management had braced for. Household brands are the steadier part: the smell of a laundry liquid, a soap, a fabric softener, bought in steady volume and reordered while the product stays on shelves. That side grew high single digits.
Competes with Fragrance & Beauty (Givaudan) · Perfumery & Beauty (dsm-firmenich) · Scent & Care (Symrise)
Fragrance IngredientsThe individual scent molecules that perfumes get built from, sold both to IFF's own perfumers and to rival fragrance houses. Roughly a tenth of sales, and the fastest-growing part of the fragrance division last quarter at double-digit growth.The individual scent molecules that perfumes get built from, sold both to IFF's own perfumers and to rival fragrance houses. Roughly a tenth of sales, and the fastest-growing part of the fragrance division last quarter at double-digit growth.
In plain English
Before a perfume can be composed, someone has to make the notes it is composed from — a single molecule that smells of musk, another that smells of cut grass. Some come from plants, others are built in a chemical plant.
The odd part is who buys them. IFF's own perfumers are one customer; perfumers at rival houses are another, buying the same molecules from a company they otherwise compete against — a bakery selling flour to the bakery across the street. This was the fastest-growing part of IFF's fragrance division last quarter, up double digits, and management called the traditional synthetic molecules the strong point of it.
Competes with Aroma molecules in Scent & Care (Symrise) · Fragrance ingredients arm (Givaudan) · Perfumery ingredients arm (dsm-firmenich)
Home & Personal Care enzymesEnzymes sold to detergent makers so their products clean in cold water with less soap — around 8% of sales and reckoned the largest unit in IFF's biology division. Growth is paced by how often detergent recipes get reopened.Enzymes sold to detergent makers so their products clean in cold water with less soap — around 8% of sales and reckoned the largest unit in IFF's biology division. Growth is paced by how often detergent recipes get reopened.
In plain English
Every load of laundry is a small chemistry problem: stains that plain water will not shift. Enzymes are proteins — tiny natural tools — each of which takes apart one kind of mess, grease or starch or grass. Put the right ones in a detergent and the wash works cold.
That is what detergent makers buy here, because cold washes and smaller, more concentrated bottles are what they advertise. IFF grows the enzymes in fermentation tanks — brewing, essentially, where the product is the protein instead of the beer — and sells them by the kilo. A detergent recipe gets reopened only now and then, which is what sets the pace of the business.
Competes with Household Care biosolutions (Novonesis) · Industrial enzyme portfolio (BASF) · Enzyme portfolio (dsm-firmenich)
Danisco Animal Nutrition & HealthFeed enzymes and additives that get more nutrition out of the same grain, sold to feed mills and livestock farms. About 5% of sales, and one of the two units management named as driving growth in the biology division last quarter.Feed enzymes and additives that get more nutrition out of the same grain, sold to feed mills and livestock farms. About 5% of sales, and one of the two units management named as driving growth in the biology division last quarter.
In plain English
Chickens, pigs and cows cannot digest everything in their feed; some of the phosphorus and protein goes straight through them. Mix in the right enzyme and more of it gets absorbed, so more of the feed a farmer has already bought actually does its job.
Feed mills and large livestock operations buy this by the sack, under the Danisco name. Around it sits a species-by-species kit of probiotics, essential oils and blended feed technologies. The newest item is a phytase — an enzyme aimed at dairy cattle — launched across the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific in September; IFF's own phrase for what it does is unlocking nutrients already present in feed.
Competes with Animal Nutrition & Health (dsm-firmenich) · Agriculture & Animal Health biosolutions (Novonesis)
Designed Enzymatic BiomaterialsA material made by enzymes from plant sugar, meant to replace ingredients made from oil; first used at full scale in a laundry product in 2025. Barely any sales, the factory is now dated 2029, and it went unmentioned on the last three earnings calls.A material made by enzymes from plant sugar, meant to replace ingredients made from oil; first used at full scale in a laundry product in 2025. Barely any sales, the factory is now dated 2029, and it went unmentioned on the last three earnings calls.
In plain English
Plant sugar goes in one end, and out the other comes a material meant to do a job normally done by something made from oil — the kind of ingredient that goes into detergents, paper and water treatment. Enzymes do the converting, using the same fermentation know-how IFF already runs.
Almost nobody is paying for it yet. One consumer-goods company put it into a laundry product at full scale in 2025, and that is the commercial record so far. The factory is a fifty-fifty venture with Kemira, which takes the paper, board and water-treatment channels, and its start has slipped to 2029 — a bet on the next decade, not a business today.
Competes with Biobased polymer platforms (Novonesis) · Fossil-based polymers it aims to replace (Incumbent fossil-based suppliers)
Cultures and food protectionThe live cultures that turn milk into yogurt and cheese, plus natural ingredients that slow spoilage. Roughly 7% of sales, sitting in IFF's best-margin division, where a strain once cleared tends to be reordered for years.The live cultures that turn milk into yogurt and cheese, plus natural ingredients that slow spoilage. Roughly 7% of sales, sitting in IFF's best-margin division, where a strain once cleared tends to be reordered for years.
In plain English
Yogurt is milk plus a particular family of bacteria, left to work overnight. Which bacteria you use shapes how thick it turns out and how sharp it tastes. Dairies buy those starter cultures rather than keep their own, because the strain effectively is the recipe.
IFF keeps a library of strains and sells them to dairy and packaged-food makers, along with natural ingredients that hold off spoilage for brands that want a short ingredient list on the pack. Clearance from regulators and the work of proving a strain performs make these long-lived products: once a yogurt tastes right, the orders repeat for years. This sits inside IFF's best-margin division.
Competes with Food & Beverage biosolutions (Novonesis) · Natural food-protection range (dsm-firmenich) · Food-protection systems (Kerry)
HOWARU probiotics and supplement ingredientsProbiotics and supplement ingredients sold under the HOWARU name — about 5% of sales. Small, and being built up: management points to Procter & Gamble's announced plan to buy Thorne as a sign of interest in the category.Probiotics and supplement ingredients sold under the HOWARU name — about 5% of sales. Small, and being built up: management points to Procter & Gamble's announced plan to buy Thorne as a sign of interest in the category.
In plain English
Bacteria you swallow on purpose. Probiotics go into capsules, powders and drinks with a health claim on the label, and every country polices those claims differently. IFF does not sell the capsule; it sells the bacteria inside it to the brands that do.
Price depends on paperwork. A strain that has been through clinical studies, and can therefore be named and claimed for, is worth more than an anonymous one, so IFF sells documented strains under the HOWARU name and keeps funding the studies that document them. It is a small line inside a big company, and management says it is strengthening the team behind it.
Competes with Human Health biosolutions (Novonesis) · Probiotic strain portfolio (ADM) · Documented probiotic strains (Lallemand)
Named in filings, launches and programs
- Grain ProcessingProduct lineYeasts and enzymes sold to biofuel makers; roughly a quarter to a third of a billion dollars of sales, and one of last quarter's growth drivers.
- Alpha Bio (with Kemira)Brand · AnnouncedThe fifty-fifty factory venture behind the new biomaterial: about €130M, a site at Hanko in Finland, production now dated 2029 instead of 2027.
- SENSORAPlatform · AnnouncedA new fragrance technology launched mid-2026, sold into home, fabric and personal-care scents; patent pending, with no sales figure disclosed.
- Omni-Bos PHYProduct · AnnouncedA dairy-cattle feed enzyme launched in September 2026 across the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific — the newest item in the animal-nutrition line.
- Spices and seasoning ingredientsProduct lineValue-added spice and seasoning ingredients sold to food manufacturers alongside flavors; counted inside Taste rather than broken out.
- Natural taste solutionsProduct lineNaturally derived taste systems sold beside the flavor compounds; demand follows recipe rework such as cutting sugar and salt. Also counted inside Taste.
- Retained stake in the food-ingredients businessBrand · AnnouncedWhen the food-ingredients sale closes, IFF keeps roughly a tenth of that business, worth about $200M — a holding, not an operation it runs.
Grain ProcessingProduct line
Yeasts and enzymes sold to biofuel makers; roughly a quarter to a third of a billion dollars of sales, and one of last quarter's growth drivers.
Alpha Bio (with Kemira)Brand · Announced
The fifty-fifty factory venture behind the new biomaterial: about €130M, a site at Hanko in Finland, production now dated 2029 instead of 2027.
SENSORAPlatform · Announced
A new fragrance technology launched mid-2026, sold into home, fabric and personal-care scents; patent pending, with no sales figure disclosed.
Omni-Bos PHYProduct · Announced
A dairy-cattle feed enzyme launched in September 2026 across the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific — the newest item in the animal-nutrition line.
Spices and seasoning ingredientsProduct line
Value-added spice and seasoning ingredients sold to food manufacturers alongside flavors; counted inside Taste rather than broken out.
Natural taste solutionsProduct line
Naturally derived taste systems sold beside the flavor compounds; demand follows recipe rework such as cutting sugar and salt. Also counted inside Taste.
Retained stake in the food-ingredients businessBrand · Announced
When the food-ingredients sale closes, IFF keeps roughly a tenth of that business, worth about $200M — a holding, not an operation it runs.