Riceland Foods and Riviana Foods Inc. announced a multi-million dollar investment to build a rice extrusion facility in Jonesboro, Ark., to produce and market high value rice extruded products for domestic and international markets through their Rivland partnership.

“This investment is another effort to move our family-farmer’s rice higher up the value-added food chain. Extruded food products can be found in many segments of today’s nutrition marketplace and this project puts our rice in this high value market,” says Danny Kennedy, president and CEO of Riceland Foods.

“Our Rivland Partnership has been very successful and we are excited about this new opportunity to manufacture and sell extruded rice products in the United States,” adds Bastiaan G. de Zeeuw, president and CEO of Riviana Foods. “We currently produce and market extruded rice products in Europe and with that expertise we can jump-start the project through which we will better serve our customers and expand our portfolio of high quality rice products.”

Rivland produces, markets, and distributes high quality rice flour products. Rice flour and extruded rice products are used in rice noodles, nutrition bars, breakfast cereals and many products looking to replace wheat-based ingredients for the gluten free market. 

The new extrusion plant will be a highly automated addition to the current rice flour operation and should create five to 10 new jobs.

“The ability to produce extruded rice products is a perfect addition to Rivland’s rice flour operation,” says Carl Brothers, chief operating officer at Riceland Foods. “Production of the raw materials at the same location gives us a solid competitive advantage from cost and efficiency standpoints.”

About Riceland Foods

Riceland Foods and its family farmers have provided the world with wholesome, nutritious rice since 1921. Grown in the United States, our rice is known for its high quality and versatility, and that's why Riceland has become a trusted brand around the globe. Riceland is a unique company. We're a cooperative, which means we are owned by our 5,500 family farmer members who are also our stockholders and growers.

Visit www.riceland.com.

About Riviana Foods

Riviana Foods is the largest processor, marketer and distributor of branded and private label rice products in the United States and North America’s second largest pasta manufacturer. Known by our innovation, we provide a wide range of high quality and wholesome products to both retail and industrial customers. 

Visit www.riviana.com.

Headquartered in Houston, Riviana is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ebro Foods, S.A., a leading Spanish food company.