Steviva Ingredients achieves SQF certification

Steviva Ingredients, a Portland, Ore.-based supplier of clean-label sweetening solutions, said it achieved Safe Quality Food (SQF) Level 2 certification at its new headquarters in the historic Guilds Lakes area in Portland. SQF Level 2 Certification, administered by the Safe Quality Food Institute, a division of the Arlington, Va.-based Food Marketing Institute, is recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative and encompasses a rigorous food-safety management system that focuses on the verification and validation of stringent food-safety and quality systems throughout the food supply chain.

 “Ensuring the highest possible standards for quality control and food safety drives everything we do,” said Yishu Hou, quality and document control specialist for Steviva Ingredients. “This certification reinforces that commitment to our customers as a reliable, quality supply-chain partner.”

At 26,500 square feet, Steviva’s new headquarters building is four times as large as its previous location, which the company said it occupied for just three years before outgrowing. In addition to an expansive production facility and warehouse, the company installed many employee-centric amenities, including a yoga studio, archery range, rock-climbing wall and organic garden.

Future plans include the buildout of a test kitchen the headquarters facility, Steviva said. The company is in the process of procuring equipment to enable packing and co-packing in single-serve liquid sachets and powder packets, as well as a bottle-filling line and bag fillers for co-packing. Steviva is also in the process of building regional distribution centers in the Midwest and on the East Coast.