USA – Commodity and specialty food ingredients distributor, Batory Foods has acquired the assets of Minneapolis-based Polypro International, one of the largest distributors of hydrocolloids in the United States and the Americas.

Polypro has been in business for 37 years and is a prominent supplier of Procol food grade guar gum, which is used as a thickening, stabilizing, suspending and binding agent.

Batory will take over as the exclusive distributor of Procol in the United States and Canada while Polypro will continue to market non-food grade guar gum applications through sister company.

With the addition of the Polypro business, Batory said that it is positioned to become the largest distributor of clean label texturants in the United States.

Polypro owner and President Mark Kieper said, “Polypro’s relationship with Batory spans more than 20 successful years.

“Batory is the natural choice to manage the Procol brand going forward and can offer our long-standing customers thousands of other ingredients to go along with Procol Guar Gum.”

Batory Foods President Ron Friedman said, “Polypro’s Mark Kieper—and his Dad before him—built a wonderful organization. Their customer service is outstanding and their supplier relationships are top-tier. These are big commercial shoes to fill.”

Kieper intends to focus Polypro’s commercial efforts on non-food grade guar gum applications through Rantec Corporation, a Polypro sister company.

Batory will provide technical sales and service for all food grade business and refer any non-food grade inquiries to Rantec.

Hector Lopez, VP of Project Management for Batory, said “Polypro has a wonderful culture. The whole team is very customer focused. We think the Polypro folks will fit right inhere.”

In October this year, Batory Foods and Lodaat Pharma announced a strategic partnership for the distribution of Lodaat’s innovative new sweetener Jagevia.

According to the company, Jagevia is a plant-based sweetener with high levels of vitamin B12, B6, low glycemic index, and other nutrients.

An ideal substitute for sugar, stevia, and monk fruit, Jagevia may be used for applications in the food, beverage, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical sectors.