Green Foods Wins Honor for Product

Green Magma, a barley grass health food product manufactured by Green Foods Corp. of Oxnard, was named by Vitamin Retailer Magazine as the nation’s best-selling product in the green food category. The award was based on a national poll of 6,000 health food store owners.

So-called green food products are powdered extracts made from whole food ingredients. The Oxnard company’s line of powdered products also includes spinach and broccoli.

Produce is farmed on the company’s 150 acres of land in Oxnard and processed at its nearby $21-million, 52,000-square-foot plant. Farming and processing is handled by YH Products, the agricultural branch of Green Foods.

Once harvested, the crops are treated with oxygen and water to remove bacteria and then are crushed and squeezed to make a concentrated juice, said Stephen Hartmann, Green Foods marketing manager. The juice is then spray-dried at low temperatures to retain the natural vitamins and enzymes.

Green Foods products are sold in the United States and abroad, through health food stores, chiropractors and practitioners of alternative medicine.

According to Hartmann, Green Foods had sales of $14 million for the 1994-95 fiscal year. Suggested retail price of the Green Magma is $27 for a 5.3-ounce, or 50-serving, container.