Danone’s Nutricia baby food expansion good news for Macroom

FRENCH food giant Danone is to expand its Nutricia baby-food business in Ireland.

The owner of the Cow & Gate and Aptamil brands will add a new drying line at the site and treble capacity to 100,000 tonnes each year in its manufacturing facility in Macroom, Co Cork, leading to about 200 construction jobs for a year from next February, and 40 permanent jobs in food science, engineering and supply-chain management.

Vincent Maurice, vice president for operations for Danone’s baby nutrition business, said its Macroom and Wexford sites had performed outstandingly in recent years. Macroom is to be a centre of excellence for Danone’s infant-milk formula production, supplied with raw material by Dairygold Co-op.