A look back at ... NutraCea.

As a world leader in stabilized rice bran research and development, NutraCea has been busy expanding its production capabilities since 2004, and is looking to steer these efforts into new European markets.

This year the company opened its Lake Charles, LA, facility, which added approximately 30,000 tons of annual capacity to U.S. production. NutraCea also completed two expansion phases at its Dillon, MT, facility, increasing annual production capacity of value-added fractions derived from stabilized rice bran from 900 to 2700 tons annually.

It also recently purchased a 124,000 square foot production facility in Phoenix, AZ, which will have an initial capacity of 5000 tons annually when fully operational, and will provide enough room to accommodate up to 10,000 tons of annual production when fully built out.

While the company's rice bran is distributed in Western European markets like the U.K. and Italy, NutraCea believes it can attract new customers in Central and Eastern Europe with its high-fiber, nutrient-rich rice bran products by offering potential cost savings.

Especially since merging in 2005 with RiceX Company, a leading producer of stabilized rice bran using proprietary processing technologies, NutraCea seems well equipped to meet the demands of the global marketplace, intending to build additional facilities in Europe and Southeast Asia.

Alongside its successful RiSolubles, RiBalance and RiceMucil products, NutraCea expanded its baby cereal business in 2007 with a purchase order from Rafferty's Garden in Australia and a private label contract with one of the largest natural food grocery store chains in the U.S. The company has expanded its existing lineup to include multi-grain, fruit-flavored and DHA fortified cereals.

Undertaking several humanitarian efforts in recent years, NutraCea distributed 80,000 pounds of its RiSolubles product to more than 10,000 orphans through community-based organizations in Malawi, Africa as part of a collaborative effort with Feed the Children, Raising Malawi.

According to NutraCea, RiSolubles support healthy glucose and energy levels and contain more than 100 antioxidants, vitamin E and vitamin B complexes, phytonutrients and essential fatty acids. Such nutrient-rich products could play a major role in feeding the world's hungry, which was part of the original basis for NutraCea's founding and continues to be one of the company's guiding principles today.

(NutraCea was profiled as an "Industry Innovator'"--"Company to Watch"--in the June 2004 edition. It continues to play an active role in the nutraceuticais industry today.)

-- Sean Moloughney, Associate Editor