An Irish multinational dairy foods and nutritional ingredients firm has bought Manitoba flax processor Pizzey’s Milling for an undisclosed sum.
Glanbia plc, through its U.S. subsidiary Glanbia Nutritionals, said it plans to use its research and marketing structure to develop the international market for the flax ingredients Pizzey’s produces.
The company, a family business operated out of Angusville (about 75 miles southeast of Yorkton, Sask.), mills flax into ingredients for the food, beverage, baking and pet food industries and also sells whole flax, touting the seed’s high levels of beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids.
Read Also
Interest in biological crop inputs continues to grow
It was only a few years ago that interest in alternative methods such as biologicals to boost a crop’s nutrient uptake seemed to spike in popularity. But according to Spencer Harris, senior vice-president of global ag retail for Nutrien Ag Solutions, biologicals are not all that new for Nutrien — the global ag retailer has been researching biological crop inputs for nearly two decades.
Its most recent product is a combination of milled flax and fish oil called MeadowPure 03 Ultra, which it’s expected will allow food processors to incorporate Omega-3 in applications not suited to fish oil alone.
Calling the new MeadowPure product a “breakthrough,” Glanbia Nutritionals Americas CEO Jerry O’Dea said in a release that the deal “marks Glanbia’s entry into a complementary sector that is exhibiting strong growth.”
Company founders Linda and Glenn Pizzey and their management team will remain with the business, Glanbia said in a release earlier this week. Pizzey’s also operates a sales and distribution centre at Gurnee, Ill., north of Chicago.
Glanbia’s North American holdings and recent acquisitions also include Southwest Cheese, a major cheddar and whey producer, and Seltzer, a nutritional ingredients manufacturer. Glanbia Nutritionals is based in Monroe, Wis., south of Madison.
