SAFC(R) Enhances World-Class European Storage, Packaging and Distribution Facility to Further Support Food-Grade Certified Products

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAFC (safcglobal.com), a member of the Sigma-Aldrich® Group (Nasdaq: SIAL), today announced the completion of an extensive upgrade to its ISO 9001 certified dedicated food-grade storage, warehousing and logistics facility in Steinheim, Germany. The dedicated food-grade center, which received a "Superior" rating in its AIB (American Institute of Baking) audit, supports customers in Europe and Asia-Pacific with a greater availability of products and increased speed and flexibility of order handling.

With 350 food-grade certified products as part of its 1,700 aroma chemicals offering, SAFC has made significant investments in the Steinheim facility to enhance global distribution of its Flavors & Fragrances (F&F) product line while ensuring supply chain continuity and efficiency throughout Europe and Asia. The $430,000 (USD) project involved major improvements to all stocking, filling, packaging and warehousing operations within the 3,800 sq. ft. unit. Designed to be compliant with global food-grade standards, including EC/178/2002, 88/388/EEC and 21 CFR 110, SAFC's F&F quality management systems are employed throughout all operating procedures.

Judy Pruss, SAFC Market Manager, commented: "The completion of the Steinheim upgrade and its successful AIB audit reinforces our ongoing commitment to our global customer base. Moving forward, the Steinheim facility will play a pivotal role as we look to further expand our food-grade certified product line."

SAFC is a total supply chain partner for the F&F market and an industry leader in supplying aroma raw materials, including food-grade certified products in hard-to-obtain quantities of 25 kg or less, in an effort to enable its customers to accelerate research and manufacturing. In addition to the 350 food-grade certified products, SAFC offers 1,100 kosher parve certified products, 550 halal certified products, 200 naturals and 180 essential oils. Complete quality control and regulatory compliance support, along with customization capabilities for packaging, blending and same-day shipping are available.

This release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "greater availability," "increased speed and flexibility," "enhance global distribution," "will play a pivotal role," or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding the Steinheim Germany facility upgrade and food-grade certified products, or regarding potential future revenues from products derived therefrom. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that products derived from the Company's Flavors and Fragrances product line will continue to meet the demands of the marketplace. Nor can there be any guarantee that any of these products will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding these products could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About SAFC: SAFC® is the custom manufacturing and services business unit within Sigma-Aldrich that focuses on high-purity inorganics for high technology applications, cell culture products and services for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, biochemical production and the manufacturing of complex, multi-step organic synthesis of APIs and key intermediates. SAFC has manufacturing facilities around the world dedicated to providing manufacturing services for companies requiring a reliable partner to produce their custom manufactured materials. SAFC has four business segments – SAFC Pharma®, SAFC Supply Solutions®, SAFC Biosciences^®, and SAFC Hitech® – and had annual sales of over $620 million in 2008. SAFC is considered a top 10 fine chemical company. For more information about SAFC, visit www.safcglobal.com.

About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and other high technology manufacturing. The company has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 38 countries and has 7,800 employees providing excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Innovation and Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning Web site at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com

SAFC®, SAFC Supply Solutions®, SAFC Pharma®, SAFC Biosciences®, SAFC Hitech® and Sigma-Aldrich® are registered trademarks Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology L.P. and Sigma-Aldrich Co.

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich