Privately-owned Wild Flavors, which has its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, announced the acquisition of American Purpac Technologies (APT) this month.
Aseptic processing and packaging is described by the company as " an advanced technology for manufacturing beverages that provides the highest level of product safety and greater opportunities for producing natural products".
Chief operating officer Kevin Gavin told FoodNavigator-USA.com that with this capability, Wild can "help [its] customers eliminate the need for preservatives".
Natural products make up an important and growing trend in the beverage industry, as consumers are seeking out products that do not contain artificial preservatives and other additives.
According to Mintel, 'All Natural' was the fourth most frequent claim made on beverage products launched in the US in 2007, appearing on some 542 products listed in Mintel's Global New Products Database.
Wild Flavors says aseptic processing and packaging also removes the need for juices to be frozen, which eliminates unnecessary costs within a customer's supply chain.
The company worked with APT in the past through a co-manufacturing agreement, under which Wild Flavors was already supplying its customers with aseptic flavor systems.
But Gavin said that acquisition of APT was a "unique opportunity" .
Wild Flavors will now be able to increase production and supply of its flavor systems and finished product formulas - although the scale of this increase is not yet clear.
In addition to aseptic manufacturing abilities of its own, however, the acquisition gives Wild Flavors new bulk blending and mixing capacities.
APT will now be known as 'Wild Aseptics'.
This replaces an article published on March 17, which stated that Wild Flavors has its headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, and stated that Wild Flavors already has packaging and finished product businesses.
Wild Flavors in not part of the German company, Rudolf Wild GmbH & Co, and is not planning to make an initial public offering in 2010.
Food Navigator-USA.com apologizes for any misunderstanding arising from the original article.