Cherry Hill, New Jersey – Today Puratos, a global leader in bakery, patisserie and chocolate products, is proud to announce an innovation in the world of sweet goods: delicious premium compound coatings made with 100% sustainable cocoa powder.
In 2012, Puratos started to exclusively use sustainable palm oil, certified by RSPO, in its compound products (branded Carat). Now Puratos is setting a new standard in the industry by introducing a great tasting, sustainable cocoa powder from its Cacao-Trace™ program.
More and more consumers are curious about where their food comes from. Along with a great tasting product, they want to be able to trace the ingredients back to earth, to the conditions in which they were grown and to the people who cultivated them.
Cacao-Trace ™ is unique because of the approach we take towards the farming communities. We invest in two cocoa collection and training centers close to farmers, in Vietnam and Ivory Coast. Farming communities generally don’t have access to such full time services and support focused on their needs.
In our cocoa collection center, we control the entire post-harvest process. By taking care of the fermentation and drying of cocoa beans we are able to provide high-quality raw materials to our factories ensuring that sustainable sourcing efforts can be combined with great taste. Physical traceability is managed through our internal control system, which allows us to give our customers full transparency on the origin of our cocoa.
Our aim is to increase the profitability of farmers by enhancing their professionalization. There is no single solution to overcome all the challenges farmers face, which is why we need to work on multiple fronts to trigger a positive circle of change. First, we provide training on how to improve the quality and the productivity of the farms, resulting in higher volumes. Our training courses focus on how to sustainably protect the environment (soil protection, soil nutrition, renovation of trees) so farmers will be able to continue to grow cocoa in the future. Second, we pay a premium to incentivize the farmers to provide the best quality beans, resulting in more income. All of this contributes to sustainable livelihoods for the farmers and their families. It’s the combination of all of these elements that makes Cacao-Trace™ meaningful and different.
By using our compound coatings, customers are guaranteed a great-tasting product that is made with respect, both for the cocoa farmer and for his environment. In addition, all Carat items are gluten free and contain 0g trans-fat, responding to growing nutrition awareness.
Carat is Puratos’ premium line of hard and soft compound coatings and chips offering a variety of innovative chocolate solutions. In addition we offer a select range of fillings and flavoring pastes. The sustainable range will be available as of January 1, 2016.
About Puratos
Puratos is an international group, which offers a full range of innovative products and application expertise for artisans, industry, retailers and food service customers in the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors. Our headquarters are located on the outskirts of Brussels (Belgium), where the company was founded in 1919. Today, our products and services are available in over 100 countries around the world. In many cases, they are produced locally by our subsidiaries. Above all, we aim to be ‘reliable partners in innovation’ across the globe to help our customers deliver nutritious, tasty food to their local communities. In the US we are headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and have 5 distribution platforms and 5 innovation and nutrition centers.
For further information, visit www.puratos.us.
Press Contacts For Puratos Corporation:
Alejandro Tovar
Vice-President Marketing
T: 856-428-4300
E: atovar@puratos.com
Kathryn Power
Marketing Communications Manager
T: 609-206-5422
E: kpower@puratos.com
For Puratos Group:
Pascale Jantcheff
Puratos Group Marketing Services Director
T: +32 (0) 2 481 44 44
E: pjantcheff@puratos.com
Source: Puratos
