Blue Diamond Growers’ new Turlock plant was named “Plant of the Year” for 2014 by Food Engineering Magazine.

The prestigious honor recognizes new food and beverage plants built in North America for innovation.

“The Turlock plant supports the significant growth in our global almond ingredients business with the most food-safe almond processing facility in existence,” said Mark Jansen, President and CEO of Blue Diamond Growers. “On behalf of our over 3,000 grower-owners and 1,300 employees, we are honored to accept this award from Food Engineering.”

Blue Diamond opened its state-of-the-art Turlock plant in June of last year on an 88-acre space in the Turlock Regional Industrial Park on Washington Road, between Fulkerth Road and West Main Street.

The Turlock plant prepares almonds for other producers to use in goods like cereal, baked goods, and candies by slicing, dicing, and pasteurizing the nuts.

“We are pleased to highlight a couple of very important industry firsts – a complete separation of raw materials from finished good which greatly diminishes the potential of cross contamination and our ability to quickly switch products and packaging to enhance our manufacturing flexibility,” said General Manager of Plant Operations, Bruce Lish.

In Food Engineering’s Plant of the Year’s 32nd year, Blue Diamond joins a prestigious list of past winners, including major food companies Chobani, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Pepperidge Farms, and Nabisco.

Blue Diamond will be on the cover of Food Engineering Magazine’s April issue.