Tnuva, an Israeli company recently acquired by a Chinese food giant, has entered the Israeli packaged hummus market, where it is in direct competition with the companies behind American hummus brands Sabra and Tribe. Next stop: US.

Israeli food manufacturer Tnuva had recently shipped new packaged hummus products to the Israeli market, under the brand “Galilee Delights”.

The new products, first in a line of refrigerated salads, are manufactured by the local Vita-Pri Galil which is already known for the Yad Hamelech brand of packaged salads, sold in Israeli food marketing chains.

Entering this market, Tnuva will not only be in direct competing with both Osem (Tzabar Salads) and Strauss Group (Achla Salads), who own together some 70% of the $200 million Israeli packaged hummus and the refrigerated salads market. It will also compete with several food chain’s private brands.

On a global level, Tnuva was acquired earlier this year by the Chinese food giant Bright Food Corp., mainly for it’s portfolio of dairy products and dairy manufacturing technology. Bright Food’s declared strategy was to use Tnuva’s knowledge in manufacturing and marketing dairy products in China.

Nevertheless, Bright Food does seem to be interested in the European and American food markets. Shell day open supermarket chains in the US, guess who they going to compete with for the $2 Billion store bought hummus and refrigerated salad markets – Sabra Hummus (co-owned by PepsiCo and Strauss Foods) and Tribe Hummus (co-owned by Nestle and Osem).

So it’s only a matter of time, it seems, until you can buy hummus in a Chinese supermarkets in America. And of course, there’s always the possibility that the Chinese consumer will also find hummus delicious, which will probably change the world – but lets leave that for future posts.