Farmtec Foods Inc. owner and president Fabian Espiritu has been in the food semi-processing business for a long time, working with companies and cooperatives, before he decided to become an entrepreneur.
Farmtec is a processor of dehydrated natural food, used as ingredients by local and multinational food manufacturing companies.
“I have the knowledge of technology. I know the market and I know where to source the ingredients. My only regret is that I don’t have the kind of money needed to start big. So I went through the rigorous motion of fabricating my own machines, however crude they may be at first,” Espiritu said, recalling the pains of being a small start-up at the time when technology was not as advanced as it is today.
Espiritu set up his small plant in the family garage where a small oven, converted as dryer and powered by LPG, served his first equipment to dry fresh food and grind them into semi-processed food ingredients used for a variety of products and preparations.
Without a proper grinding machine, he asked permission from his former company to temporarily use the plant’s equipment to pulverize “alamang” or shrimp fry, his first product. Farmtec is one of the very first Filipino companies to introduce shrimp flavoring in powder form.
A local snacks giant became one of the very first clients to buy Farmtec’s ground shrimp seasoning. All of Farmtec’s raw materials are sourced from the different parts of the country where raw food sources are abundant. The company gets its the bulk of alamang requirement from Hagonoy, Bulacan and some from Laguna Lake fishers.
Food ingredients
Farmtec supplies food ingredients to the country’s big food companies. It is the technology behind the popular sinigang mix, the flavoring for many snack foods and the spice to numerous canned food such as sardines and other spicy preparations available in the local market.
True to the claim of sinigang mix commercials, the condiment is made from real tamarind, boiled, dried and pulverized to fine powder which is a demand diligently served by Farmtec to food manufacturers in more than 30 years.
Espiritu confessed one fun fact about the popular sinigang mix Filipinos love to use for the local sour stew (sinigang).
“The powder mix is actually made from the entire fruit itself—pulp, seeds and rind—boiled, dried and ground together to create a solid, sour flavor. At first, the company I’m supplying it with was more concerned of the color of the powder. Soon, they realized what is important is that we have found a way to capture the desired sourness,” he said.
Tamarind, shrimp fry and chili are Farmtec’s first main products, and the demand for these flavorings have grown so big that Espiritu had to comb the entire country to look for new areas that could supplement the company’s production requirement.
From the fresh seafood markets of Hagonoy where shrimp fries abound, to the farms of Batangas, a major source of sampalok, down north to the chili farms of Nueva Ecija and Isabella, Espiritu scoured the country to secure his needed supply.
The lack of local chili supply prompted the company to source the product outside the country. To date, the company sources 90 percent of its semi-processed chili requirement from India, while the rest are locally-sourced.
Through its 33 years in the business, Farmtec has forged numerous alliances not only with farmers and raw food suppliers but also with food manufacturers and the government.
Espiritu said the government, in reaching out to Farmtec, provided the technological boost and the marketing support that pushed the company to go beyond what it can do as a natural food ingredients manufacturer.
It has consistently received assistance from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in terms of equipment support and trainings to upskill its workers.
Espiritu, now 83, also remembers how the DOST once pushed Farmtec to dabble into noodles manufacturing using squash, purple yam and malunggay as main ingredients. But unlike food ingredients which are sold in bulk and in institutional volume, retailing the nutrition-packed noodles was slow and tedious, particularly in an unresponsive domestic market. Despite that, the noodles reached Japan as the company tried to export the product.
Farmtec produces over 40 different food ingredients, processing fresh fruits and vegetables into powdered fruit juices used to flavor commercially-prepared juice mixes; herbs used as alternative medicines like lagundi and sambong; dehydrated vegetables used as condiments; and dried seafood as a seasoning product.
It has acquired a special technology to produce spray-dried fruit powder in its purest form, the same technology it uses to produce its very fine and potent malunggay powder.
“The process is a bit tricky. For malunggay we have to start processing the leaves within the first 2 hours of harvest by preparing the leaves through series of processes, the major procedure is the extraction of juice before it enters the chambers of the spray-dryer. The dehydration process is a state-of-the art procedure,” Espiritu said.
The company uses the spray-drying technology to dehydrate fruits like calamansi, dalandan, guyabano, watermelon, pineapple, honeydew, passion fruit, mango, melon and avocado as well as herbs such as malunggay leaves, ampalaya leaves, lagundi, banaba, sambong, balbas ng pusa, pandan leaves, guyabano leaves, guava leaves, saluyot and camote leaves.
Farmtec also processes chili, turmeric, ginger powder, onion, bayleaves, guava fruit, VCO, coconut cream, shrimp, anchovy, yam, taro, sweet potato and squash.
Recognitions
As the main and preferred supplier of foods ingredients, Farmtec has received numerous awards in various categories and capacities. Its contribution to the development of the local food industry has been key to its recognition by various government and academic institutions.
In 2007, Espiritu received the Distinguished Alumnus in Agribusiness and Food Processing award from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños (UPLB) for its use of indigenous raw materials as ingredients for food processing, and as major producer of dehydrated ingredients.
The company has also been cited in the Pro-active Program 2012 Search for Model Company by the DTI. It also emerged as the regional and national winner for the Best Setup Adaptor by DOST, under the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program; and the regional and national winner in the Best in Productivity Program by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
In 2003, Farmtec received its first nomination for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a global program of Ernst and Young and special citation of 5S Good Housekeeping from the Export Development Council (EDC) of the DTI.
In addition to recognitions it has earned over time, Farmtec maintains very strict operation and production conduct. It has received its HALAL certification from the Islamic Da’wah Council of the Philippines Inc. (IDCP) and the Halal Development Institute of the Philippines (HDIP), two of the trusted HALAL certification bodies in the Philippines.
The company was also HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points)-certified under the ISO 22000 standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is now in the process of renewing its Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000.