SunOpta Announces Resumption Of Production In Its Facility That Has Been Paused Since Late April

SunOpta, Inc. STKL, a food company that focuses on a healthy products portfolio, announced late Wednesday afternoon that it has resumed production of its roasted sunflower kernels at a production facility in Minnesota. The company was forced to pause production at its facility on April 21, 2016 after the discovery of a potential contamination issue which also led to a voluntary recall on a limited number of sunflower seeds it previously produced. SunOpta noted that the the roasted kernal products from the affected production line represents less than 1 percent of its total annual sales. Nevertheless, the company takes food safety issues "very seriously, regardless of the scope of the product involved." "We are confident that through our work, in conjunction with external experts, we have identified and eliminated the root causes of the contamination and therefore resumed production of roasted sunflower kernel products at our facility in Crookston," said Rik Jacobs, SunOpta's President and CEO. "We have also enhanced our testing activities prior to all customer shipments, to give our customers the confidence that all products meet or exceed rigorous quality and food safety specifications." Shares of SunOpta initially spiked higher by more than 6 percent after the news announcement. However, shares are still lower by nearly 35 percent since the start of 2016 and lower by 55 percent over the past year.