Blue Diamond Growers announced the official grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of its new 52,000 square-foot, energy-saving manufacturing facility in Salida, California. The event marks the completion of the facility to add new pasteurization technology and processing lines. The announcement follows the cooperative's recent groundbreaking of its receiving warehouse on the same property in Salida, which is the largest almond receiving station in the world.
"It's an exciting time for Blue Diamond as we continue to invest in our facilities here in Salida and across the Central Valley to better meet the growing demand for our products worldwide," said Mark Jansen, President and CEO for Blue Diamond Growers. "The new building design and innovative processing technology we're deploying helps us increase the quality of the almonds we deliver to our customers and consumers."
The new energy-saving and sustainable manufacturing facility spans 52,000 square feet and has been engineered to support future expansion plans as needed. Within the facility, Blue Diamond uses Log5 technology across two of its natural pasteurization lines – one for processing whole almonds and the other for dry roasting on an integrated line. A third line uses innovative design with custom features to produce a fine flour texture.
The new CALGreen facility features several energy-saving attributes including LED lighting, a multi-staged HVAC system, and temperature-controlled processes. To meet stringent food safety standards, the new facility houses separate room enclosures with electronic-controlled entry to better control environmental conditions, along with automated pressurized air, and automated controls for all processes and packaging, including monitoring line performance, yields and downtime. Additionally, the integrated processing lines move finished product directly to cold storage and shipping and will greatly reduce material handling and trucking costs. Beneath the facility, buried perforated pipes will keep stormwater on-site to recharge the ground water and deliver it directly to the soil.
Continuing its investment in the local community, the company also announced a partnership with Valley Children's Hospital for its new Pelandale Specialty Care Center, located approximately one mile from the Blue Diamond Salida facility. A $25,000 partnership will help the hospital as it grows to support the more than 12,000 Stanislaus County pediatric outpatient visits per year.
For more information: 
Blue Diamond Growers
Tel: +1 800 987 2329
Email: sdemelo@bdgrowers.com
www.bluediamond.com