SunOpta Rebrands Citrus Extraction and Ingredients Operation as Fresh Pressed Industries

01 Sep 2015 --- SunOpta Inc., a leading global company focused on organic, non-genetically modified and specialty foods, announced that the extraction and ingredient processing component of its San Bernardino, Calif. integrated juice processing operation has been officially rebranded and will operate as Fresh Pressed Industries.

Fresh Pressed Industries will provide freshly squeezed citrus based ingredients for the growing premium healthy beverages and foods segments.

Fresh Pressed Industries will operate from SunOpta's recently retrofitted and commissioned juice facility in San Bernardino, which specializes in the extraction, processing and packaging of high-quality citrus-based ingredients for both industrial and consumer packaged product applications, including the rapidly growing ultra-premium juice segment. With the completion of the retrofit, both the fruit extraction and bottling operations within the facility are operational. SunOpta is in the process of transitioning outsourced bottling volumes back to the facility and has commenced extracting primarily organic citrus products, including citrus based oils.         

"The completion of the plant retrofit and subsequent rebranding are positive for both our Global Ingredients and Consumer Products segments, leveraging our vertically integrated platform.  With the addition of the Citrusource team earlier this year, we're now positioned as a premier supplier of healthy and organic citrus-based beverages and through our newly formed Fresh Pressed Industries team we believe we can become a leading provider of organic citrus based ingredients," said Rik Jacobs, President and Chief Operating Officer at SunOpta.  "The new processing capabilities should allow us to better serve our diverse customer base and grow the business in-line with our commitment to supply healthy and organic products to the marketplace."

In March 2015, SunOpta added to its healthy beverage platform with the acquisition of Citrusource LLC, a leading supplier of premium not-from-concentrate private label organic and conventional orange juice and citrus products in the United States, with revenues of approximately $30 million.  Citrusource operates a national sourcing and supply platform utilizing a number of processing and packaging partners to serve a variety of well-known retailer customers.  With the completion of the San Bernardino retrofit, certain of these volumes are now being consolidated at the facility, leveraging its integrated processing and packaging capabilities.