Inventure Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNAK), a leading specialty food marketer and manufacturer, has received certification from the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO) for its Boulder Canyon™ Natural Foods products and manufacturing facilities in Bluffton, Ind. and Goodyear, Arizona.
The Bluffton plant, located at 705 West Dustman Rd., produces snack chips for the company-owned Boulder Canyon brand, in addition to salty snacks under the T.G.I. Friday’s®, Nathan’s Famous® and Vidalia Brands® licensed brands. Inventure’s Goodyear plant, located at 3500 South La Cometa, is a state-of-the-art kettle-cooked potato chip facility, producing potato chips under the Boulder Canyon, Poore Brothers® and Bob’s Texas Style® brand names.
All Boulder Canyon products will carry the certified Gluten-Free logo going forward.
The Auburn, Wash.-based GFCO is considered the leading global gluten-free certification program. The strict certification process includes periodic gluten testing of the manufacturing facility, regular plant inspections by a GFCO contracted auditor and random product testing in the marketplace. Products carrying the GF logo meet similarly strict gluten-free standards constituted by the GFCO. For a complete list of GFCO certified companies and products, please visit www.gfco.org.
Sales of certified gluten-free products in the chips, pretzel and snack category grew 54 percent from 2010-2011 and sales of the overall gluten-free food category grew 27 percent from 2009-2011 (In grocery store channel, based on IRI data for the 52 weeks ending 4/15/2012).
World-leading market research group, Mintel®, estimates the gluten-free food category will reach $8 billion in 2013 (Mintel Gluten Free 2012 report).
“We continue to place the utmost importance on improving our food safety and manufacturing capabilities, said Laura Setzfand, vice president of marketing for Boulder Canyon. “The growth in the gluten-free food category is a direct result of consumers’ demand for better-for-you products. Boulder Canyon offers consumers a wide range of better-for-you snacks that will now also carry the GFCO certification.”
Since 1994, Boulder Canyon Natural Foods has been delivering premium snacks including kettle-cooked potato chips made with all-natural ingredients and cooked in better-for-you sunflower or safflower oils. Boulder Canyon snacks are gluten-free, non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) and feature no trans fats and zero cholesterol. In addition to kettle-cooked chips, Boulder Canyon offers Vegetable Crisps, Hummus Chips and Rice &Adzuki Bean Chips as part of a product line that consists of more than 20 unique all-natural snacks.
