Baobab Foods, a US-based manufacturer of superfood products, has opened a manufacturing facility in Washington, Missouri, to extend the supply and flavour offerings of its BaoBites superfruit snacks.
The nutrient and antioxidant-rich foods can be easily blended into several food formulations, such as cereals and granolas, trail mixes, nutrition bars, baking mixes, and can also be used as stand-alone fruit snacks, or as a base for panned chocolate or yogurt coatings.
The facility will manufacture all BaoBites Superfruit Snacks through a joint-venture between Baobab Foods and Beyond Ingredients.
The new facility enables food formulators to easily incorporate on-trend functional ingredients such as probiotics for digestive health, plant-based proteins for muscle tone and endurance, and electrolytes for natural hydration.
Water activity can be adjusted based on the application to improve nutrients and flavour in food products.
Baobab Foods general manager Stephan Broburg said: "Although the concept of BaoBites was completely new to the industry a few years ago, the reception has been tremendous, and we've been working closely with our current partners to understand how this novel ingredient can provide increased benefits to the end consumer.
"Our new facility is unlike any other, as it allows us to easily customise the water activity, flavours and other nutritional ingredients in each bite, so the opportunities for food formulators are endless. We're eager to invite our current partners and connect with new ones to explore the opportunities BaoBites can bring to their R&D and innovation pipelines."
Claimed to contain twice the antioxidants of dried blueberries and an oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of 50,000, BaoBites Superfruit Snacks are prepared using ingredients such as wild-harvested organic baobab fruit powder, real fruit concentrates and pectin.
BaoBites Superfruit Snacks are non-genetically modified, vegan, gluten free, and free of cholesterol.
