Soy companies Pulmuone and Wildwood come together
Natural Foods, in a bid to give the two companies a competitive
edge in the US soy market.
All American company Wildwood manufactures premium tofu, seasoned tofu, refrigerated veggie-burgers, soy yogurts, soy smoothies, and a range of organic food products in California and Iowa.
PulmuoneUSA, on the other hand, is an off-shoot of the South Korean group of the same name, which has worldwide annual revenues of more than $400 million. The US company was set up in 1991 to distribute natural food products - including tofu, fresh noodles, meatless products and soy milk-based items - from Korea to the American market.
"We are proud and excited that Wildwood has join the Pulmuone family," said T.J. Song, executive vice president of Pulmuone USA.
Pulmuone sells products under the Pulmuone, Kimbo, Nigari and Soga brand names, with Pulmuone, Kimbo and Nigari catering to the ethnic market, and the Soga brand focusing on developing and manufacturing soy products for the American mainstream market.
NutraIngredientsUSA reported last week how soy has become a mainstream ingredient, according to a study by Business Communications Company (BCC). product.
The research by BCC has discovered that the US market for foods containing soy continues to evolve largely because of opportunities in mainstream retail outlets.
As customers become more aware of the health benefits of soy, foods are moving out of speciality health stores and onto the shelves of mainstream outlets, creating an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 12.3 percent.
"The ascendancy of functional snacks, especially low-carbohydrate, soy-containing ones, should set the pace for growth over the next five years," said the report.
The growth in functional foods will therefore contribute to the projected $5.0 billion in 2008 sales, up from the $2.8 billion market value for engineered soy-containing foods in 2003.
Over half of processed foods sold in the US already contain soy in some form, be it as oils, isolates or concentrates, for example. However, the survey noted that: "Changing consumption patterns do not bode as well for the staple soy-containing foods as they do for the engineered ones." In this area, growth will be essentially flat.
