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Nature Bio Foods BV, based in the Netherlands, offers a vast range of certified organic food ingredients imported into the European Union with just-in-time delivery at the door steps of reputable food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in demand of sustainable, ethical and traceable food sources, which are sourced directly from organic farms in India, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Emerging as a trusted pioneer in Organic Business since 26 years, Nature Bio Foods BV has its roots in India, as a major food and agri-business company catering organic food ingredients to the tune of 125,000 metric tonnes to Europe and USA each year.

ROHAN GROVER, Director of Nature Bio Foods, gives us an insight into the workings of the business.

◊ By Rutaksha Rawat

Tell us a bit about Nature Bio Foods.

When we started providing organic farm produce for fellow European customers back in 1993, it was all about passion. Our customers’ patronage and an ever increasing demand, helped us transcend oceans and landmasses and set up our first dedicated state-of-the-art organic cleaning and storage facility in Rotterdam in 2017, followed by warehouses in Germany and Italy. We have evolved into participants in the global food ingredient supply chain with a vast bouquet of diverse organic produce like rice, pulses, superfoods, millets, oil seeds and sweeteners.

Nature Bio Foods BV (NBF BV), Netherlands, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Indian organic food company, Nature Bio Foods Ltd, situated in Haryana, India. With close to three decades of experience, and a drive to provide sustainable supply chain solutions to a fast escalating demand for authentic organic, traceable and natural food ingredients, our focus has grown beyond India and we’ve succeeded in spreading our presence globally and sourcing directly from some of the most fertile organic lands of Africa, Southeast Asia, Turkey and South America.

We work with 64,000 small-holder organic farmers across 94,000 hectares of organic land. Most of our projects are located in the northern part of India at the foothills of the Himalayas, as well as, in many regions of Southeast Asia and African countries like Togo and Uganda. We’re primarily a business-to-business company and a bulk of our produce is distributed to USA and Europe in more or less equal proportions. We also have a consumer brand called ‘EcoLife’, which was launched in USA in 2015 with presence in India, UAE and Mauritius, and will soon witness a Europe launch.

Tell us about your organic food processing plant in the Netherlands.

Established in 2017, our Dutch unit is located in Maasvlakte (Rotterdam) in the Netherlands just a few kilometers from the port. The state-of-the-art integrated organic ingredients processing facility is an endeavour to provide organic food ingredients to customers in Europe through a sustainable supply chain. We have made significant investment in the infrastructure of the facility. Today, it has a cutting edge cleaning line, a CO2 pressure treatment plant, massive warehousing capabilities, as well as, a versatile food processing infrastructure. The high pressure CO₂ fumigation system recycles up to 85% of the CO₂ back into the process. This facility is well certified by Bio Suisse, Naturland, Krav, Demeter, Skal, etc, as well as, the highest food safety standards like BRC.

What does NBF’s product range comprise?

Rice remains our star ingredient, making up 40% of our product range with more than 40 varieties of organic rice differing in nutritional content and dimensions, and suited to a wide range of applications. NBF’s strength lies in that we are able to offer rice grown in different geographical locations, containing varying nutrient combinations. For instance, a lot of baby food manufacturers reach out to us as they require rice with a specific tolerance limit of heavy metals’ traces for formulation of their products. Besides rice, we produce organic pulses, lentils, amaranth, oilseeds, chia, millets, quinoa, as well as, rice flour, rice syrup, rice milk, rice protein, sweeteners, sugar, etc.

How does Nature Bio Foods ensure customers of its organic authenticity? Take us through your supply chain from the fields of Asia/Africa to your facility in the Netherlands.

Authenticity of our organic produce is of the utmost importance to us as we have a decades-long legacy of credibility to live up to. Our products are tested at each phase of the supply chain to ensure they are 100% compliant with international organic standards.

Post-harvest, NBF’s team tags the product for traceability under several parameters — its source, the team responsible for harvest, dates of harvest, etc. The products are then dispatched to one of our Indian facilities for processing. We have five dedicated organic processing facilities in India, all of which are certified as per the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) and undergo social audits conducted by SEDEX and SA8000. Our state-of-art processing plants house equipment by Buhler, Cimbria, etc.

At the facility, the products are stored in carbon dioxide-fumigated cocoons to eliminate chances of pest infestation. Each product that arrives at the processing unit gets tested and a composite sample is prepared. These composite samples are then sent off to laboratories in Europe, where they are tested for chemical residues and other substances.

For a quick turnaround time, Nature Bio Foods has established an inhouse laboratory, ‘Assurance Lab’, which is NABL-certified. After the product has reached the final finished stage, a third party sampling takes place and the product gets tested again before being shipped off to the Netherlands facility, from where it is distributed across the Netherlands, as well as, to other countries in Europe.

What is NBF’s CAGR?

We’ve grown over the past few years at a CAGR of more than 15%.

Tell us about your investment in the Dutch organic health snacks brand, ‘Leev’.

Leev enjoys credibility and market visibility, and has a fantastic range of products, comprising breakfast bars, healthy snacks, baking products and gluten free and low-sugar products. This strategic acquisition offers NBF direct reach to consumers through the distribution strength of Leev. At the same time, Leev now has access to the finest organic ingredients grown by Nature Bio Foods’ farmers across farms, nations and continents.