One produces refrigerated pasta on the West Coast. The other -- on the East Coast -- specializes in frozen pastas. Besides a common interest in Italian cuisine, bothPasta PrimaandCarla's Pasta Inc.recently shared operational achievements.

Retail pasta supplierPasta Prima, Benicia, Calif., said its frozen and refrigerated products are the first to carry a Green-e certification seal. Green-e, a third party eco-label organization, certifies businesses’ commitment to renewable energy and greenhouse gas mitigation.

Officials say Pasta Prima company invested more than $2 million last year for a rooftop solar array on its Benicia manufacturing plant. They says they expect the installation to produce 70 percent of the facility’s power, equivalent to 682,000 kilowatts of electricity per year. The remainder of the company’s power is now offset with Green-e certified wind power renewable energy credits. Pasta Prima also recycles all cardboard and food waste created by the manufacturing process as a part of its commitment to sustainability.


Carla's Pasta Inc., South Windsor, Conn., said it earned itsGlobal Standard for Food Safety Certificationfrom theBritish Retail Consortium(BRC). Officials say BRC's Global Standard for Food Safety is approved by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), a group of leading food safety experts and service providers. BRC-certified food manufacturers are required to demonstrate senior management-level commitment to continual improvement of products. They must also show a food safety plan, layout, product flow and segregation of products, and appropriate corrective and preventative actions in place.

Carla’s Pasta says its 56,000-square-foot plant in South Windsor (1) complies with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Point program specifications, (2) features computerized monitoring and temperature controls and (3) maintains a multi-layered security system to assure optimal food safety of products at all times.  The company also says it conducts its own independent inspections by certified trained auditors and further validates by laboratory testing of the finished products.