Healthy, Organic Growth

The last decade has borne witness to dramatic organic-industry growth. According to the Organic Trade Association, Greenfield, MA, sales of organic food increased almost 80% over the last decade to represent $17.⁷ billion in 2006, averaging about 18.5% growth each year. And, despite currently high food prices, a recent report from Investor Ideas, Point Roberts, WA, predicts a positive outlook for organics based on currently improving value for organic-manufacturer stocks, as well as ever-rising consumer awareness of issues related to health and wellness. This latter point is particularly pertinent due to the consumer perception that organic products are generally healthier than conventional.

Companies like Marroquin Organic International have catalyzed the sector’s impressive growth. Over the years, the company has expanded as a result of its ability to source difficult-to-find organic, non-GMO ingredients on a global scale to meet existing, and enable future, organic-manufacturing needs.

After the company’s initial forays into supplying common commodities like fruit and legumes in the early 1990s, it explored more-niche concerns. “I took it further, and went into more of the minor ingredients, with an eye in trying to make the industry grow,” says Grace Marroquin, president. “I saw the need for technical ingredients, such as our organic starches and maltodextrins, as key to further growth of innovative organic products.”

For example, the company carries a range of organic yeast products, including active and inactive nutritional yeast products that can serve as a fermentation base for ingredients in nutritional supplements, notes Marroquin. Other health-and-wellness drivers include organic extracts that enable polyphenol or other antioxidant claims—as tested and verified by the ingredient manufacturer—on the labels of such products as chocolate. Marroquin Organic is also keeping an eye on ingredient needs for the emerging organic fiber and cosmetic sectors.

“The value-add of food now is not just organics, it’s also nutrition,” says Marroquin, who sees this path leading directly toward organic functional foods. “I think that’s a trend that we’re going to see moving into organics,” she says.

In addition to brokering organic ingredients, Marroquin Organic also offers liaison services to connect formulators with companies carrying a necessary ingredient or processing aid. This illustrates another of the group’s capabilities—not only expanding its portfolio of available ingredients, but fostering the connections between companies that help overall industry growth.

Marroquin Organic International

303 Potrero Street, #18

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Phone: 831/423-3442

Fax: 831/423-3432

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: marroquin-organics.com