Ozarks Edibles: Food products produced in southwest Missouri run the gamut

From sauces to meats to dairy and chocolate treats, a full menu of locally made food products is created by area manufacturers for dinner tables nationwide - and beyond.

Southwest Missourians might be surprised by the variety of locally manufactured and processed food products or their economic impact.

According to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, there are more than 12,000 people employed by 109 food manufacturing companies in the Springfield, Branson and Joplin areas, earning more than $106 million a year in wages.

Statewide, food manufacturing employs nearly 40,000 people, making it the second largest sector of the manufacturing industry behind transportation equipment.

Many companies cite the region's central location and easy access to shipping as inherent advantages to manufacturing in the Ozarks.

"It's less costly for me to be here than even in New York," said Shawn Askinosie, owner of Springfield chocolate manufacturer Askinosie Chocolate, which gets its raw cocoa beans and ingredients from Mexico and South America. "Once I get the beans to a port, I'm bringing them to Springfield by truck, rail or both."

Even regional shippers such as Carthage-based Ott Food Products find savings. Ott ships its salad dressing, barbecue and wing sauces and mayonnaise to food service providers and retailers from Ohio to Texas to Colorado.

"Being in the center of the United States you can ship any direction - it's a lot easier than being on the East Coast or the West Coast, where you have a lot longer ways to go," said Dustin Larsen, the company's sales and marketing manager. "Interstate 44 is a great highway for trucking, and we can pick up and go either direction with our products."

The biggest challenge for most local food producers is making people aware that their products originate in the Ozarks.

And that's important these days, according to Susie Farbin, co-owner of MaMa Jean's Natural Foods Market.

"People trust things more if they're grown and manufactured and produced here," Farbin said. "Being right here is so much better than dealing with companies many states or even countries away."SBJ digs in to the major sectors of food manufacturing, based on the North American Industry Classification System. Click the link below to read about some of the products made in the Ozarks.