Finns gain berry win with safety certification
The FSSC 22000 certification verifies that Kiantama’s ingredients are not contaminated during processing and are from an ethical source.
Kiantama says this is a “milestone” for the Finnish company.
“Food safety and quality have always been on our focus at Kiantama. We see the FSSC 22000 certification as an independent verification that’s important for earning trust. And trust is what honest food value chain players need to tackle food frauds, mislabelled origin and poor quality options,” said Vernu Vasunta, owner and CEO of Kiantama.
The FSSC is a complete certification for food and feed safety management systems, based on existing ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) standards that can be attributed to the whole food supply chain.
The certification also validates the origin and traceability of the ingredients, as well as the preservation of the natural forest biodiversity.
Market analysts at Nielson estimate that 72% of global consumers want to know exactly where and how their purchases were produced, making this kind of certification more important.
Tieja Ruokamo, sales and marketing manager at Kiantama, told NutraIngredients that the certification means the company can better fulfil the needs of their consumers who want quality, ethically sourced products.
Very berry
Kiantama specialises in extracting nutrients from wild Finnish berries including cranberries, bilberries, chokeberries, sea buckthorn, redcurrants and blackcurrants.
The berries are hand-picked and gently processed in order to maintain their nutritional values.
They are then dried or made into powder, purées or concentrates, ready to be used in food products, beverages and supplements.
Kiantama also specialises in supplying new super-fruit lingonberries.
Lingonberries, rich in antioxidants, have often been targeted as a health food as they contain a high amount of vitamin E and manganese, as well as being a rich source of fibre. They also contain different types of polyphenols.
A Swedish study using mice as subjects also showed that lingonberries can halt the effects of high fat diets, but this is yet to be proven in humans.
Extracts from lingonberries have been used in cough syrups, for their medicinal properties.
