The history of the US company IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances) began in 1889 in the Netherlands, when Josef Polak and Leopold Schwarz founded Pollak & Schwarz (P&S), a company specializing in fruit flavors and oil essences. The start-up quickly developed into one of Europe's leading manufacturers of essences.
After the start of World War II, the two brothers-in-law merged with the US company van Ameringen-Haebler, which was headed by Arnold Louis (“A.L.”) van Ameringen, a former employee of P&S. Van Ameringen-Haebler focused on fragrances, thus complementing P&S's product range. Under the leadership of A.L. van Ameringen, the company grew in the United States and became the only major American supplier of flavors and fragrances.
In October 1964, van Ameringen took IFF public and handed over the management of the company to Henry “Hank” G. Walter, Jr., who expanded the company globally and opened up new markets. In the decades that followed, IFF focused on innovation in technology, creativity, and biotechnology, including microencapsulation for scent strips in children's “scratch-n-sniff” books, industrial production of natural flavours through sterile fermentation processes, and the commercial use of protein-based detergent enzymes.
From the late 1960s onwards, IFF established itself as a leading international company in the field of flavors, fragrances, and technologies for perfume production, greatly expanded its research and development activities, achieved increasing sales in international markets, and worked closely with renowned perfumers in the IFF Fine Fragrances division.
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