Almond industry leader Blue Diamond Growers has opened a new 52,000 square-foot, energy-saving manufacturing facility in Salida, California.

The facility includes new pasteurization technology and processing lines. The opening follows the recent groundbreaking of Blue Diamond’s receiving warehouse on the same property in Salida, which is the largest almond receiving station in the world.

"It's an exciting time for Blue Diamond as we continue to invest in our facilities here in Salida and across the Central Valley to better meet the growing demand for our products worldwide," says Mark Jansen, president and CEO of Blue Diamond. "The new building design and innovative processing technology we're deploying provides the highest quality almonds to our customers and consumers."

In the new facility, Blue Diamond is the first in the almond industry to use Log5 technology across two of its natural pasteurization lines – one for processing whole almonds and the other for dry roasting on an integrated line. A third line uses innovative design with custom features to produce the finest flour texture in the industry.

The new CALGreen facility features several energy-saving attributes including LED lighting, a multi-staged HVAC system, and temperature-controlled processes. To meet and exceed today's stringent food safety standards, the new facility houses separate room enclosures with electronic-controlled entry to better control environmental conditions, along with automated pressurized air, and automated controls for all processes and packaging, including monitoring line performance, yields and downtime.