NutraCea boosts baby cereal production
The firm said it is in the last stages of testing equipment and training personnel at the facility, and has begun cereal production and new customer sampling.
Expansion plans
NutraCea’s Phoenix facility currently has a capacity of 2,700 tons. The company said that by the end of the second quarter this year, it expects this to increase to 5,000 tons. Further expansion plans early next year will see capacity grow to 7,000 tons.
The company’s chief operating officer Leo Gringas said one focus during the expansion was to ensure the consistency and quality of its baby cereal and stage 2 products.
He said production is now “running smoothly” to the same quality standards, and the firm expects to phase in customers and additional capacity over the next few months.
Quality guarantees
"Bringing a baby cereal plant to full capacity while maintaining safety and ensuring product quality and consistency takes enormous effort. We planned the Phoenix plant to be capable of operating at capacity in the second quarter," said Gringas.
Providing quality guarantees is increasingly important for baby rice, following the publication of data that found some forms of the product may be contaminated with inorganic arsenic.
Kody Newland, senior vice president of sales for NutraCea said: “It's important to note that baby cereal is one of the most scrutinized products in the world and the process of bringing on new customers for our facility typically follows an involved process that includes product sample runs and onsite inspections.”
