Maglio Companies

How often do we try to learn about the products that we buy from stores? If you’re a typical American shopper, chances are you have only a very basic understanding about your food and the journey it’s undergone to land on your plate. But if there was ever a time to seriously ponder our food choices—the time is now. As COVID-19 wanes, other diseases and infections on a similar scale loom large, so it’s more important than ever to incorporate fresh and unadulterated ingredients in our diet to stay healthy. Fresh produce not only delivers in nutritional potency, it significantly adds to the depth and flavor of our food.

But access to healthy food is rife with difficulties and processing and mitigating food waste are major ones. When food is heat treated, harmful byproducts such as acrylamide and acrolein can form, both of which significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular and other diseases. Further, according to FAO, more than a third of food produced for human consumption gets thrown out each year. Therefore, from processing and packaging to distribution and sales, every segment of the food supply chain must tackle these challenges head-on to ensure continued access to fresh and nutritious food. Maglio Companies, a fifth generation produce distributor based in Glendale, WI, has led the charge by adopting a circular economy benefitting both society and the environment–through juice.

Healthy Roots Cold Pressed Juice

Since 1902, Maglio has delivered tomatoes, herbs, organics, and other fresh produce from the grower to the customer without ever compromising freshness or nutritional potency. How does Maglio do it? By being a leader in adopting cutting-edge shelf-life extending technologies such as high-pressure processing, among other innovations.

In High Pressure Processing (HPP), pathogenic bacteria and spoilage organisms are killed in a non-thermal process that doesn’t alter the nutritional potency of food products or affect how they taste. Healthy Roots, Maglio’s premier 100 percent cold pressed juice line, which is made using only fresh fruits and vegetables, is produced via HPP.
“Our hand-crafted juices are never heat pasteurized and contain no added sugar, fillers, or preservatives,” states Jeff Stachelek, VP Sales and Marketing at Maglio. Made with over 2 lbs of produce per bottle, the company’s juices fulfil the daily requirement of fruits and veggies while maintaining an unmatched flavor profile. “You could call it ‘blends with benefits’,” adds Mark Maglio, co-owner of Healthy Roots. “These are functional beverages with exceptional holistic benefits.” Maglio’s personal favoriteflavor?

Healthy Roots’ Deep Clean juice, which combines fruits and vegetables with natural cleansing agents such as kale, spinach, pineapple, and lemon. Similarly, Healthy Roots’ other juice flavours—Heartbeet, Immunity, Might Melon and Digest and Reset—render a perfect combination of nutrition and taste.

In addition to 12 oz. bottles of juice, Healthy Roots also offers 2 oz. functional juice shots which provide a significant energy and other nutritional value. Functional juice shots come in three flavors and utilize traditional and homeopathic ingredients such as ginger, turmeric and aronia berry.

Sustainability that’s Compatible with Economic Growth

Healthy Roots has shown exponential growth over the last three years, and the company has aggressive growth plans in place for 2022. Maglio continues to test a variety of blends for its winning category drink, functional shots, in order to stay ahead of the curve. Moreover, the company is in the process of adding a bio-digester that will take its food waste and turn it into energy, resulting in 30 percent more in power grid reduction and pushing it even closer to 100 percent self-sustainability.

VP Stachelek shares a customer success story of a client who was facing difficulties in supplying juice to a corporate cafeteria because of a facility-wide ban on single-use plastics. In response, Maglio produced 2-gallon juice bags and provided biodegradable cups, allowing the corporate cafeteria to serve juice on a single-use basis without adding plastic bottles to the waste stream.
This is just one example of Maglio pursuing economic growth that’s compatible with sustainability. There are many more, including the installation of solar panels on the roofs of the company’s Glendale facility that satisfies almost 70 percent of its total energy requirement. The company also uses only recyclable and biodegradable products for packaging and containers. Further, to reduce waste, the company upcycles and upsells its pomace, rinds, and zest to multiple pet food and food manufacturers, helping manufacturers improve the functional benefits of their end products. “On Food Sustainability, Maglio continues to partner, grow, or procure fruits and vegetables, only from farmers that are processing responsibly grown produce.We continue to increase the number of organic products brought into Maglio for processing,” states Stachelek.

A Century Old Company with a Bright Future

Since its humble beginnings, Maglio has led the way in sustainability through its rigorous food safety practices across every business unit, from Healthy Roots to commodities to fresh-cut produce.After over a century in business, Maglio has established itself as an early leader in sustainability by implementing innovative food safety practices such as refrigeration to extend shelf life, washing with a natural cleaning solution, shelf-life testing, layer-pack nesting trays, microbial testing, equipment cleaning, building Standard Operating Procedures, and more.

Maglio Companies has a wide variety of clients, from retail stores like Costco, Kroger, and Walmart, to foodservice giants such as US Foods, Sysco, Gordon’s, PFG. Proof that choosing the rocky path of environmental responsibility can still bear fruit.