Specialty News Archive
Specialty's divisions share news about food ingredients, company expansion, the industry and consumer and safety trends influencing our products and services.
Specialty Commodities forges joint venture with Andean Naturals
Andean Naturals, La Paz, Bolivia, and Specialty Commodities have a joint venture arrangement to offer high-quality organic Royal Quinoa® and organic quinoa-based ingredients.
Andean Naturals’ Royal Quinoa® is only grown in Bolivia and Peru at the edge of the world’s largest salt flats at 13,000 ft. altitude. Nearly 4,000 indigenous family farmers rely on quinoa as their main income source, since frequent frosts and droughts hamper their ability to grow other commercial crops. These farmers plant heirloom seeds and use organic and sustainable agricultural farm management with fair-trade guidelines, preserving the quality of this healthy, delicious staple that is rapidly increasing in demand worldwide. Andean Naturals’ processing facilities are CCOF certified organic, dedicated gluten-free, allergen-free and Fair Trade Certified™ by TransFairUSA™. Kosher certification available for puffs, powders and flakes.
Specialty Commodities Acquires Lodi Nut Division
Lodi Nut Company, Lodi, Calif., was acquired as part of Specialty’s overall expansion as a safe food ingredient provider. The Lodi facility will serve as the hub of a newly-formed Specialty Food Ingredients Division. The division supplies raw, roasted (oil and dry), salted, seasoned, sized sorted, packaged and even pasteurized nuts, seeds, fruits and ingredients of all types.
All 75 plant employees remain at their positions, including the management team members. Lodi Nut Company has been a long-time importer of nuts and dried fruits from throughout the world. Lodi Nut Company's long history and experience in the nut industry give it a competitive advantage in all aspects of ingredient processing. Much of the equipment has been engineered and constructed by the firm. In addition, all processing equipment is constantly being upgraded to provide state-of-the-art status to production capabilities.