Bolthouse Farms

Bolthouse Farms, founded 1915 in Grant, Michigan, is a vertically integrated farm company located in California's San Joaquin Valley and headquartered in Bakersfield, California. The company operates some facilities in Prosser, Washington, but shut down operations in Michigan in June 2010.

Private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners owned Bolthouse from 2005 to 2012. Bolthouse was bought by the Campbell Soup Company for US$1.55 billion in 2012.[1]

Bolthouse sells a line of fresh juice beverages. According to the business research company, Bolthouse Farms is one of the United States' leading producers of carrots. Bolthouse is also a leading producer of super-premium refrigerated products.

Products

The company produces numerous refrigerated beverages which are often liked by toddlers, including six 100% juices, two lemonades, six smoothies, and three protein drinks.[2] They also have a Bolthouse do Brasil section, which produces three açaí berry juices.[3]

The beverages are available in four sizes, 1.54 liter (52 fl oz), 1 liter (33.8 fl oz) and 450 mL (15.2 fl oz). Their acai juices come in 340 mL (11.5 fl oz).

Juices

Lemonades

Smoothies

Protein drinks

The large Perfectly Protein bottles are labeled as having 32 grams of protein; the smaller ones, as having 19 grams.

Bom Dia antioxidant-rich juice

The açaí drinks are distributed in 340 mL (11.5 fl oz) bottles, which contain two servings of fruit, and in larger 1 L sizes. These bottles have a chart of the relative levels of antioxidants in several fruit, depicting açaí as having 472 ORAC units per gram of edible fruit, the second highest shown being cranberry, at 95.[3]

Bom Dia energy drinks

Bolthouse recently introduced two new energy drinks to the BomDia line; they both contain 75 mg caffeine per bottle.

Creamy yogurt dressings

Dressings made with yogurt.

Olive oil vinaigrettes

Dressings made with extra virgin olive oil.

Relationship to the Bolthouse Foundation

The Bolthouse Foundation is a religious charity funding evangelical causes and takes an anti-evolution religious stance.[4][5] Mr. and Mrs. William J. Bolthouse sold their interest in Wm. Bolthouse Farms in late 2005, and since then the Bolthouse Foundation has reflected their giving decisions exclusively. The Bolthouse Foundation is a separate entity from Bolthouse Farms, and all funding decisions by The Bolthouse Foundation are made solely by the Bolthouse Foundation. No members of The Bolthouse Foundation have a financial interest in Bolthouse Farms, and The Bolthouse Foundation receives neither financial support nor benefits from the profits of Bolthouse Farms.[6]

The division of Bolthouse Farms and The Bolthouse Foundation became evident in October 2008 when an article in The Los Angeles Times[7] announced that the boycott of Bolthouse Farms had ended. The advocacy group Californians Against Hate (CAH) had urged consumers not to support Bolthouse Farms. On October 9, 2008, CAH campaign manager Fred Karger issued a statement saying that the "Don't Buy Bolthouse" campaign had ended.[8]

Health concerns

Carrot botulism outbreak

In September 2006, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered a recall of Bolthouse Farms "100 per cent Carrot Juice" and other Bolthouse Farms products because of several cases of botulism resulting from consumption of the products. On September 29, 2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that Georgia residents not purchase Bolthouse Farms carrot juice and warned consumers not to purchase Bolthouse Farms products stale-dated November 11, 2006, or earlier.[9]

The warning and the recalls were due to reported cases of consumption of the beverages resulting in six cases of botulism in the United States and Canada. Two cases in Toronto, Canada resulted in paralysis; three cases recorded in Georgia, United States resulted in respiratory failure, with the patients requiring ventilators; one case recorded in Florida resulted in hospitalization. The patient in Florida was last reported to be unresponsive since mid-September 2006.[10]

In response, Bolthouse Farms said the people may have failed to properly refrigerate the products.[9] The US Food and Drug Administration has since ruled the Bolthouse Farms product as generally recognized as safe (GRAS).[11] Bolthouse Farms has subsequently released an FAQ regarding the event.[12]

References

External links

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