Who Owns HOWARU?
HOWARU is the probiotic ingredients brand of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF). Rooted in the Danisco cultures business that arrived through the 2021 DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences merger, it supplies documented probiotic strains to supplement, food, and beverage manufacturers under IFF's Health & Biosciences segment.
Parent Company
Founded
1997
Status
Publicly Traded
Headquarters
HOWARU Timeline
GlobalOfficial Website
Who Owns HOWARU?
- Parent Company: International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.
- Ownership Type: Brand division
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock Ticker: NYSE: IFF
| Brand | Parent Company | Ownership Type |
|---|---|---|
| HOWARU | International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | Brand division |
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History of HOWARU
- Founded: 1997
- Founders: Danisco (brand development)
Danisco, the Danish ingredients company, developed the HOWARU probiotic brand around its culture collection built from the 1990s, packaging named strains like Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 into documented health-positioned formulations for food and supplement makers.
DuPont acquired Danisco in 2011 and kept HOWARU inside its Nutrition & Health division, expanding the strain library and clinical documentation. When IFF merged with DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences in 2021, HOWARU moved to IFF and remains its flagship probiotic ingredient brand.
About International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.
What is International Flavors & Fragrances?
IFF is a New York-based ingredients company that creates flavors, fragrances, and bioscience products used in food, beverage, home, and personal care goods worldwide. FY2025 sales were $10.89 billion.
Is IFF publicly traded?
Yes. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker IFF.
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Who is the CEO of IFF?
Erik Fyrwald, formerly CEO of Syngenta, has led IFF since February 2022.
What are IFF's business segments?
Taste, Food Ingredients, Health & Biosciences, and Scent. The former Pharma Solutions unit was sold to Roquette in May 2025.
What was the DuPont merger?
In February 2021 IFF combined with DuPont's Nutrition & Biosciences business in a reverse morris trust transaction valuing the company at roughly $45 billion, adding probiotics, enzymes, and plant proteins.
- Founded: 1958
- Headquarters: New York City, New York, USA
- Company Type: Publicly Traded
- Stock: NYSE: IFF
- Revenue: $10.89 billion (FY2025)
- Employees: Approximately 21,000
Where Is HOWARU Made / Based?
- Headquarters: New York City, New York, USA
HOWARU Categories & Tags
Brands Owned by International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.
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HOWARU Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Clinically documented strain library
- +Backed by IFF's fermentation and bioscience scale
- +Established name among supplement formulators
- +Gut health category demand keeps growing
Considerations
- -Novonesis holds the largest cultures share
- -Probiotic ingredient pricing is commoditizing
- -B2B brand invisible to end consumers
Frequently Asked Questions About HOWARU
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Sources & Further Reading
- HOWARU Official Site
- IFF Health & Biosciences
- IFF 10-K (SEC EDGAR)
- IFF Company Page — /companies/iff
Competitors to HOWARU
No direct competitors found in the same category. This could be because HOWARUoperates in a unique market segment or we're still building our competitor database.
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Independent Alternatives to HOWARU
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Dalmia Cement is privately owned, unlike HOWARU which is under a publicly traded parent company.
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Graybar is privately owned, unlike HOWARU which is under a publicly traded parent company.
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. Stock Information
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