The Client
For over 20 years, Alvarado Street Bakery has been a global supplier of certified organic whole grain breads and bagels made with sprouted wheat. Alvarado Street Bakery, through its worker-owned cooperative structure, uses whole grain and organic ingredients wherever possible to support sustainable agricultural practices and healthy living.
The Challenge
Fifteen years ago, nutritional databases did not include information for sprouted wheat. To ensure compliant food labels, Alvarado Street Bakery performed lab analysis for each new variety of bread. The process was both time-consuming and costly as the company mailed loaves of bread back and forth to an out of town laboratory for analysis. In addition, the unique “flour-less” organic ingredients require extra attention to detail to steer through regulatory requirements.
The Solution
Food Consulting Company offered a more cost-effective and resource-friendly approach to develop nutrition data and Nutrition Facts Panels for sprouted wheat products. They helped create a standardized nutrient profile for this novel ingredient so that future lab analysis for each new finished product would not be required. In addition to significant cost savings and faster turn-around time, Food Consulting Company gives the bakery more confidence in its nutritional information.
Over the past 15 years, Food Consulting Company has continued to help Alvarado Street Bakery with all of the company’s labeling projects and regulatory needs, including nutritional facts panels, unique customer requests, and guidance to target desired nutritional claims with specific formulations.
The Results
Working with Food Consulting Company has saved Alvarado Street Bakery both time and money. Food Consulting Company makes the process easy – from labeling on product packaging to ingredient specification sheets to staying up-to-date on label regulations. The bakery rests assured that their product documentation is accurate and packing is FDA compliant.
Food Consulting Company has also helped Alvarado Street Bakery be more responsive to its customers. When asked for an extended nutrient profile for an urgent customer deadline, Food Consulting Company can turn on a dime to address issues and opportunities. In addition, the bakery appreciates the 24/7 access to all of its completed work files on a secure web portal. This allows for quick access to react to customers requests – even if away from office computers.
Alvarado Street Bakery stays informed on food labeling regulations through Food Consulting Company’s e-newsletter, Food Label News, and their insightful project comments. The bakery turns to Food Consulting Company to help make the right choices for regulatory compliance.
“No matter how many different sizes and slices, Food Consulting Company takes the stress out of nutrition facts labeling.”
— Michelle Zimmerman, Labeling Manager, Alvarado Street Bakery
