Bogota, May 6 (EFE).- Colombia’s first organic puree brand, which boasts chemical- and preservative-free ingredients and environmentally friendly packaging, is looking to compete in Latin America’s baby-food market, having already begun expanding to the neighboring countries of Ecuador and Panama.

Baby Faves Organics has been sold since last year by Colombia-based Odaco Group to meet mothers’ growing demand for natural products for infants six months and older, the age when they begin to eat solid food as a complement to breast-feeding or formula.

“Twenty-six million units of pureed baby food are sold in the country each year, and as pioneers nationally in the production of a chemical-free (product) we want to capture a share of that market,” the company’s founder, Carolina Salamanca, told Colombia.inn, an Efe-operated news agency.

Founded in 2011, Odaco currently markets its products in Colombia at more than 200 chain stores and at specialty stores that sell baby products and organic and gourmet foods.

“We’re entering Panama and Ecuador and we’ve established contacts to enter Puerto Rico, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica within two years,” Salamanca said.

“The goal is to market pureed baby food throughout Latin America” by 2018 and expand the company’s portfolio to healthy snacks and other products that complement breast-feeding or infant formula, she added

Odaco Group develops fruit-based purees that carry the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s USDA Organic seal, which certifies that the products are made using methods that preserve the environment and avoid most synthetic materials, such as pesticides and antibiotics. EFE