Micronutrient Premixes
Serving a Global Market
We support our customers worldwide with micronutrient premixes developed to the highest standards. With sales offices in 63 countries, 20 subsidiaries, and nine production sites, we stay close to local markets and deliver solutions from first idea to production.
Scientific research and idea development under one roof
Micronutrient expertise and international market knowledge set us apart.
For the success of your products, we combine science, trends, and a strong understanding of consumer needs. Customer focus: Our marketing and product management experts have a clear focus: comprehensive service that truly reaches our customers, and product concepts that deliver real added value.
Market knowledge
Idea generation
Know-how
Custom premix development and technical consulting
Development process
Whether for food, beverages, or dietary supplements, a premix must fit the specific formulation. As your strong partner, we deliver high-quality solutions and support you throughout the entire process. A development project can pass through several stages until a market-ready and production-ready product is achieved:
- Clarification of product specification
- Product development
- Sample shipment and testing phase at your site
- Adjustments if required
- Approval and order placement
- Production and quality control
- Delivery and processing
Specification
Together with you, we define the desired product specification. Your requirements are the foundation and guiding thread of our premix development.
Raw material selection
Our R&D experts are characterized by extensive knowledge of raw materials, their properties, and potential interactions. For premix creation, they draw from a broad range of ingredients, including:
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Trace elements
- Amino acids
- Functional plant extracts
- Vitamin-like substances
- Fatty acids
Technical support
Every application has its own specific challenges. To ensure our premixes match your production process, our experts provide you with technical and well-founded advice.
Scientific know-how connection for optimal results
As a subsidiary of the internationally operating Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, we are part of a powerful know-how connection that benefits our customers.
Within our global Stern Technology Center, our micronutrient expertise is combined with extensive application know-how from a wide range of disciplines.
Science for optimal results
Stern-Technology Center Ahrensburg
Located just outside Hamburg, the Stern- Technology Center Ahrensburg brings together around 130 specialists working in 15 different laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art application technology. In this inspiring environment, we develop premixes for a wide variety of applications and benefit from close collaboration with experts in the following fields and technologies:
- Beverages
- Dairy products
- Meat products
- Baked goods
- Chocolate
- Dietary supplements
- Lecithins
- Flavors
- Enzymes
- Pasta
- Flour
- Biotechnology
- Analytics
- Sensory science
- Rheology
Micronutrient laboratory
At the heart of SternVitamin’s development activities is our highly specialized micronutrient laboratory at the Stern-Technology Center Ahrensburg. In our micronutrient laboratory, we analyze the vitamin and mineral content as well as selected physical properties of raw materials and premixes, using the results to optimize premix development.
Our goal is to achieve optimal sensory results and perfectly matched micronutrient premixes for our customers’ formulations and products.
International presence
SternVitamin is well positioned globally. As part of the owner-managed Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, we are internationally represented through six additional Stern- Technology Center. Our customers also benefit from our close partnerships with universities, research institutes, and renowned vitamin manufacturers.
Solution-oriented customer service worldwide
Country-specific regulations and local eating habits shape the markets in which we operate together with our customers. That’s why our service is close to you worldwide.
Subsidiaries and representatives
Being close to our customers is a priority. With our own subsidiaries and more than 60 representatives, we operate internationally, enabling us to provide on-site support wherever you are in the world.
Our Sales Network Partner
We maintain close customer proximity through our international Sales Network Partner. This enables us to provide on-site support, respond quickly to market needs, and deliver tailored solutions wherever our customers operate.
Precision manufacturing at the highest level
State-of-the-art production, certified processes, and maximum flexibility.
Our production sites worldwide are characterized by cutting-edge technology, certified processes, and maximum flexibility. This ensures consistently high quality in every batch.
SternMaid: Made in Germany
Our German sister company SternMaid produces the majority of the premixes we develop, with an annual output of around 50,000 tons. Using the latest production technology and adhering to the highest quality standards, the team blends, refines, and packages powders and granulates.
What sets SternMaid apart:
- Highest hygiene standards and 15 blending lines for flexible batch sizes
- GMP-certified counter-current container blender for highly sensitive, pharma-grade products
- Precise, gram-accurate dosing with a digital barcode weighing system
- State-of-the-art fluidized-bed technology for a wide range of product enhancements
- Flexible lines for small and large packaging units
Refinement
SternMaid’s fluidized-bed technology is state-of-the-art, allowing targeted improvement and enhancement of our premix properties. Applications include agglomeration, granulation, coating, and microencapsulation.
International production sites
Outside Germany, we operate production facilities in six additional countries. Whether in the USA, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, Malaysia, or China - as well as in Germany - we ensure that all international production sites meet the high-quality standards of our German operations through group-wide processes, audits, and quality guidelines.
Highest quality standards to meet the needs of our global customers
Raw materials
Raw materials form the essential foundation of every premix we produce. That’s why our quality control starts with careful selection. All raw materials used are subject to strict checks based on criteria such as active ingredient content, purity, and stability.
Certified quality
We meet the increasing demands for food safety and quality at every stage of production. Hygiene and food safety at all production sites always comply with the latest regulations. We work according to globally recognized standards and supplement them with additional requirements:
- Audited HACCP system
- FSSC 22000 certification
- GMP-certified according to EU Guide Part II
- Diet approval
- Allergen management
- Kosher and Halal management
- LMBVV (German regulation for foods for specific consumer groups)
HACCP-audited
For the highest level of food safety, we are audited according to HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). This systematic approach includes a wide range of preventive measures, such as:
- Maximum purity ensured by hygienically designed production plants
- Automatic sieving and metal detection
- Automated documentation of batch-specific target vs. actual weighing
- In-house analyses as well as testing by accredited external laboratories
- Comprehensive documentation via a centralized process control system
- Full traceability of all batches
Certified quality
Halal Quality Control
Kosher certification
