Arcadia Bio launches GoodWheat pasta as a consumer product brand

See Correction/Clarification at end of article

Davis-based Arcadia Biosciences Inc. is rolling out its own brand of GoodWheat pasta, using the strain of high-fiber wheat it developed over 16 years.

So far, the pasta is available on Amazon and at some Hy-Vee Inc. supermarkets in eight states in the Midwest.

"Our proprietary, premium wheat has been carefully cultivated over the last 16 years, culminating in a great tasting pasta with zero questionable ingredients," said Laura Pitlik, Arcadia’s chief marketing officer, in a news release. "GoodWheat pasta supports the efforts of parents working to nourish their families with simple, clean and natural products.”

Arcadia (Nasdaq: RKDA) holds at least 28 patents for GoodWheat, which is a non-genetically modified organism wheat trait strain that features higher fiber, fewer calories, reduced gluten and extended shelf life over traditional wheat.

Arcadia developed GoodWheat by rapid prototyping techniques, not by gene editing.

Arcadia was founded in 2002 as a plant-trait research and development company, but in the past five years it's been transitioning from a research company into an ingredient company, and now into a consumer product company using its proprietary research.

The rollout of the brand has literally been years in the making. Arcadia first signed up a network of farmers to plant GoodWheat in 2018.

Previously, Arcadia had developed e-commerce channels for its GoodWheat products, including selling pasta made by North Dakota-based boutique company Three Farm Daughters that uses GoodWheat.

Now Arcadia is making GoodWheat the brand. The pasta made with GoodWheat has four times the fiber of regular wheat; it is higher in protein, and lower in calories and gluten.

To start, Arcadia is rolling out five types of pasta — penne, spaghetti, fettuccine, elbows and rotini – priced at $3.99 for a 12-ounce package.

In its packaging, GoodWheat boasts non-GMO certification and that it is certified kosher and USA Farm Grown.

On the website for GoodWheat, the company name is listed as Arcadia Wellness LLC, which is a division of Arcadia Biosciences.

Earlier this year, Arcadia hired Stan Jacot, a food and brand marketing veteran, as its new CEO. Jacot was previously president of Jane’s Dough Foods in the Columbus, Ohio, area.