With over 15 years in the food and beverage industry, food manufacturing company Trojan Foods has expanded into packaging services in response to the increased demand for specialised packaging solutions in the industry.

Based in Wynberg, Johannes- burg, Trojan Foods has recently invested in enhancing its manufacturing and packaging capabilities to offer a sophisticated array of packaging and blending services to new and existing clients. The investment has already yielded positive results, with Trojan Foods securing contract manufacturing and packing business from key players in the fast-moving consumer goods industry.

“Historically, Trojan Foods was primarily focused on producing goods in bulk for application in big kitchens across the catering industry, from mines to hospitals and so forth – primarily maize or soya-based products that are either sweet or savoury,” explains Trojan Foods MD Kwena Setati, who outlines that the business is now focused on producing goods which will ultimately be used and consumed in households every day.

“Our products are unique because we strive to find innovative ways to balance the cost to quality ratio and employ continuous improvement initiatives to produce a value-for-money product.”

Trojan Foods is a wholly black-owned company, with a Level 2 broad-based black economic- empowerment certificate. The company is also certified with a Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000 certificate for food safety and quality management.

FSSC is a globally recognised food safety certification scheme that provides a framework for food manufacturers to effectively manage the company’s food safety responsibilities.

Setati tells Engineering News that one of the company’s milestones to date is moving to a bigger facility, which allowed for increased efficiency and optimal food safety controls; the facility has a fully equipped lab where the company’s quality team perform a myriad of tests on every batch produced.

Although Trojan Foods is expanding into the packaging industry, it has not been immune to the realities of the economy. Most raw materials used by Trojan are agro-based, exposing the business to economic factors like price shocks caused by adverse weather. Adverse weather, like a drought, increases input costs quite rapidly due to supply constraints from farmers.

However, Setati is bullish about the company’s future and notes that it aims to establish Trojan as a big player in this space. This will be done by diversifying its customer base and taking advantage of its products’ long shelf life to export to neighbouring countries.