US flavour firm bets on natural foods trend to stay

New York

A 28-YEAR-old foodie from the Bronx is a New Jersey company's weapon in its bid to take over the world's flavour market.

With pierced ears and a stylised black Yankees cap cocked to one side of his head, Philip Caputo has a mission to spot trendy ingredients, such as a Korean chilli paste called gochujang, and turn them into flavours that Hagelin Flavor Technologies can sell to industrial food companies.

Hagelin's Israeli parent, Frutarom Industries Ltd, is figuring that it takes a millennial to capture millennials. Chief executive officer Ori Yehudai, who's…