Quinta Quinoa lauded as best startup

May 31, 2017, ROCKWOOD, Ont. — Shortly after being selected as one of the Top 10 International Innovation Award winners at SIAL Canada, Quinta Quinoa president and founder Jamie Draves flew to Geneva, Switzerland to compete on the international stage once again. After making his pitch to the judges of the NutraIngredient Awards competition, Quinta Quinoa was selected as the International Startup of the Year during the VitaFoods Europe Conference.

“What makes our Quinta Quinoa superior is that it has almost twice the protein and four times the mineral levels of standard quinoa, which is considered a superfood in itself. We have started to call it the ‘Super of the Superfoods’, said Draves after accepting the award.

Since the launch of Ontario-grown Quinta Quinoa in early 2016, demand for the highest nutritional quality quinoa has been strong, and availability has expanded to multiple retail locations across Ontario. With record yields of 2000 lbs/acre in 2016, Quinta is currently the only quinoa brand on the market that has completed the nutritional testing necessary to be able to make the claims of being high in protein, fibre and zinc, and an excellent source of iron and magnesium, and a source of calcium.

“The agriculture industry is so different in Europe than it is in North America so it was a great experience to travel to Geneva and share our progress toward identifying sustainable plant-based protein sources” says Draves. “Quinoa is not as well known in Europe as it is in Canada, so the panel was interested to hear about how we have developed a non-GMO quinoa seed that boasts the highest nutrient profile currently on the market.”

VitaFoods Europe brought together the industry leaders of functional foods, supplements and nutritional products from May 9-11th 2017 for a conference and tradeshow event. The Top Three Finalists from each NutraIngredient Award category gathered to pitch their innovative products to a diverse panel of expert judges. After a day of deliberations, the award winners were revealed at the NutraIngredient Awards Ceremony on the evening of Wednesday May 10th.

In addition to winning NutraIngredients International Startup of the Year award and the Top 10 SIAL 2017 International Innovation Award, Quinta Quinoa has been recognized by several other organizations as an innovative product, including Regional Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence and the Food Innovation Award from the Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association.

For more information on Ontario-grown Quinta Quinoa please visit http://www.quintaquinoa.ca.