Oterra acquires Food Ingredient Solutions
Founded in 1999, Food Ingredient Solutions is an American producer of colors and natural antioxidants, with a strong exposure to, and growth from, natural colors. The company serves more than 400 customers annually and has two certified processing facilities located in Teterboro, New Jersey, and Marshfield, Missouri.
Since its inception Oterra has acquired SECNA Natural Ingredients Group S.L. and Diana Food’s coloring business in Europe earlier in 2021. Food Ingredient Solutions will mark its first US-based acquisition, strengthening its on-the-ground international presence and creating meaningful synergies with Oterra.
In May 2021, Chr. Hansen Natural Colors A/S announced Oterra as its new name.
“North America is one of the fastest growing natural colors markets, and this acquisition puts Oterra in a great position to further support our customers in the conversion towards natural colors,” said Cees de Jong, chairman of Oterra.
Jeff Greaves, founder and CEO of Food Ingredient Solutions, will join Oterra.
“I’m thrilled that Food Ingredient Solutions will become a part of Oterra. We have a strong local presence and great customer relationships, and as Oterra we will be able to offer our customers access to the most extensive portfolio of natural colors in the world,” Greaves said.
“We look forward to welcoming the Food Ingredient Solutions team to Oterra. They will join a strong team of dedicated natural color specialists from around the world, and their addition will be met with excitement, especially from our US employees as we further strengthen our US position,” said Odd Erik Hansen, Oterra’s CEO.
Oterra also announced the completion of Diana Food’s natural food coloring business on December 29, 2021.
Oterra first announced its intent to acquire this segment of Diana Food in September.
Oterra will now begin the work of fully integrating Diana Food’s natural food coloring business into its portfolio as soon as possible. The acquisition, the second in six months since Oterra became a standalone company, further boosts its global footprint, with the addition of two Diana sites - Cossé in France and Holbeach in the UK - bringing the company’s production site tally to 10.
The acquisition gives Oterra a stepping stone into the organic colors markets, and will allow the company to offer its customers and market partners a line of USDA and EU organic certified colors to various applications. It will also strengthen the company’s backwards integration of red beet.
Hansen said, “Diana Food’s is the king of red beet, having grown them for natural coloring for more than 30 years. Their innovation and expertise will be strong additions to our portfolio. I look forward to not only offering Oterra’s customers a wider portfolio, but also having the opportunity to open the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio up to existing Diana customers.”
