The Perfect Granola on Wednesday publicly announced its extended partnership with Foodlink to produce the first NYS Grown & Certified ready-to-eat grain product, and its partnership with New York State as the State’s first grain product that is part of the Farm-to-Institution Program.

At a press event inside Foodlink’s distribution center, outside the doors to the Foodlink Community Kitchen, owner Michele Liddle made the announcement, alongside several county and state officials, and Foodlink’s Chief Operating Officer, Terra Keller.

“The Foodlink Community Kitchen relocated and expanded three years ago with the intention of building new partnerships and scaling up to meet the demand for healthy, locally-sourced meals and minimally processed products,” Keller said. “We’re proud to support the growth of a great, local, woman-owned business and provide new jobs and training opportunities inside our state-of-the-art facility.”

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New allergy-free granola pouches will be produced at Foodlink, creating new jobs within the kitchen, and providing an opportunity to expand Foodlink’s workforce development program, The Foodlink Career Fellowship.

“Everything we do in our company is in an effort to help those in need and this is just another layer of how we use our business to support our community,” Liddle said.

Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo was in attendance, and delivered remarks lauding the partnership, and the rapid growth of a local, woman-led organization. The Perfect Granola, which now sells its product in Wegmans, Walmart and many other big-name retailers, is among the fastest growing granola companies in the nation.

Other speakers at Wednesday’s event included Sen. Joe Robach, Scott Ziobrowski, President of the NYS School Nutrition Association; and David Valesky, Deputy Commissioner of NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets.