Blue Diamond Growers Salida Plant Awarded "Plant of the Year" by Safe Food Alliance

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Diamond Growers, a nonprofit grower-owned cooperative and the world's leading processor and marketer of almonds, is celebrating their recent achievement in food safety. The Safe Food Alliance recognized Blue Diamond's Salida manufacturing plant as Plant of the Year at its annual Food Safety Conference in Monterey, California.

"This recognition is a direct result of Blue Diamond's commitment to food safety and our team members' dedication to our vision of delivering the benefits of almonds to the world," said Brian Barczak, Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing Operations for Blue Diamond Growers. "We support this vision with a Food Safety Culture based on being food safety aware and audit ready."

The Safe Food Alliance annually recognizes a food processing facility that demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement, achieves success as a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Certified facility, and ranks as a top scoring facility during unannounced food safety audits. Safe Food Alliance provides food safety training and consulting services to more than one hundred food processing companies. 

As a leader in almond production, Blue Diamond strives to uphold, promote and improve programs based on the GFSI standards as established by the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Institute, and undergoes an audit of their Food Safety and Quality program at a frequency of one audit per week. Blue Diamond consistently receives high scores on audits and for three consecutive years achieved excellent ratings on SQF audits.

"Blue Diamond's record for food safety spans more than a century, where the highest standards and best practices begin on our family farms and in our plants," said Mark Jansen, President and CEO for Blue Diamond Growers. "The ongoing investments made by Blue Diamond in our manufacturing plants ensure they are the most advanced and efficient in the world to give our brands a competitive advantage. As a leader in the industry and supplier of quality California almonds to some of the largest food companies in the world, we are committed to meeting their strict standards for food safety and providing unmatched value to our customers through innovation."

This recognition is the latest example of Blue Diamond's promise of delivering safe and wholesome food to customers and consumers worldwide.

About Blue Diamond  

Blue Diamond Growers is the world's leading almond marketer and processor. It led the development of California's almond industry since it was formed as a nonprofit, grower-owned cooperative over 100 years ago. Today Blue Diamond has over 3,000 growers across California. Blue Diamond markets and sells a wide range of almond-based snacks, beverages, and ingredients, including Blue Diamond Snack Almonds®, Nut-Thins® crackers, almond flour, and the number one almondmilk in the U.S., Almond Breeze®. For more information, visit www.bluediamond.com.

SOURCE Blue Diamond Growers