Pet food industry expands facilities to meet increasing demand – Pet Food Processing

GA Pet Food Partners opened its new Ingredients Kitchen in April. (Source: GA Pet Food Partners)
KANSAS CITY, MO — From holistic and human-grade pet foods and treats to sustainably focused packaging and formulations, consumer trends in the pet food aisle are constantly shifting. But what has never strayed — and has only grown — is the pure demand for more pet foods and treats.
To stay top dog in this space, processors, suppliers, distributors and retailers ramped up their production, expanded their capabilities and improved their capacity with new facilities, plant expansions and investments.
Pet Food Processing has compiled all 42 new facility announcements, investments and expansions from January to June 2022.
 
Manufacturers
After being named Manufacturer of the Year, Instinct Raw Pet Food announced its plans for a new manufacturing plant in Lincoln, Neb. in January. The expansion will increase production capacity and is expected to roughly double Instinct’s current workforce in Lincoln.
In January, Carnivore Meat Company acquired its fourth facility in the Green Bay, Wis., area, increasing the company’s freeze-drying production capacity. The facility will house more than 10 custom-built freeze-dryers and is expected to be fully operational by July 2022.
Toward the end of January, Royal Canin received a grant of more than $3.9 million to use toward a facility expansion. The pet food company announced earlier that it would be investing $185 million in the expansion, which will allow it to create 149 jobs for residents of North Sioux City, SD.
The Crump Group, a Canadian manufacturer of Crumps Naturals, Caledon Farms and other brands, revealed its plans for a $40 million investment plan to expand its production. The company plans to add two new manufacturing sites in Mississauga, Ontario, and Nashville, NC, to its production network, quadrupling its current production capacity. The company also hired new personnel to lead the planned expansion.
New Zealand-based King Country detailed its investment in a new production facility. Though the sum of the investment was not disclosed, the company anticipates that the funds will aid in its construction of a premium kibble manufacturing facility with a capacity of more than 44,000 tons. Construction for the facility began this June.
In January, Spot & Tango announced plans for its first in-house manufacturing plant. To create the facility, the pet food company is expanding an existing plant in Allentown, Pa., with an investment of $20 million. The facility is expected to officially open this summer.
On Feb. 1, Phelps Pet Products acquired a full fleet of manufacturing equipment from Simmons Pet Food. The company added the treat equipment to a new 180,000-square-foot facility in Illinois, which represents an investment of more than $20 million by Phelps. The facility will increase the company’s warehouse space for ingredients and finished products, processing and preparation, and more.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition received an award for its planned facility, which the company originally announced in June 2021 and is currently under construction. The new 300,000-square-foot wet pet food manufacturing facility will be a state-of-the-art version of the company’s facility in Topeka, Kan., and will be LEED Certified. Hill’s Pet Nutrition has invested more than $325 million into the project.
At the end of February, Mars Petcare invested $100 million in an expansion of its facility in Mexico over the next three years. The expansion is part of the company’s innovation plan and is expected to double its current capacity for wet pet food. The expansion will support the growth of Mars’ Pedigree, Whiskas, Cesar and Sheba brands.
To expand its private label manufacturing capabilities, United Petfood acquired the “la Braconne” facility from France-based Neodis Group. The facility, located in Mornac, manufactures dry cat and dog food products for a variety of United Petfood’s consumers. The facility employs about 50 people and features a high-quality production site.
Following growing demand for pet food in the Australian and global markets, Nestlé Purina PetCare announced its $90 million expansion of the Purina wet pet food facility in Blayney. The newly expanded facility boasts new, state-of-the-art, high-speed manufacturing technology and will use local ingredients, including meat and grains, to create wet cat food formulas. The facility currently supports Purina’s Felix, Fancy Feast, Purina Pro Plan and Purina One brands.
Toward the end of April, NutriSource, owned by Tuffy’s Pet Foods, opened its new wet pet food cannery inside Tuffy’s treat facility in Delano, Minn. The company invested $20 million in the cannery, which includes a 45,000-square-foot expansion. According to NutriSource, the cannery can produce up to 300 13-oz, 5.5-oz and 3-oz steel and aluminum cans per minute, with production estimated to top 65 million cans yearly.
Inspired Pet Nutrition, owner of Harringtons and Wagg brands, invested $7.5 million to expand its facility in Kinmel, North Wales. The expansion, which is expected to be operational by January 2023, is estimated to triple the facility’s wet dog food capacity to 75 million units yearly. IPN will add new processing and filling lines as part of the expansion.
To drive product innovation and expand its capacity, Freshpet shared details on its plan to construct a new manufacturing kitchen in Hanover Township, Northampton County. The new 99,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility, dubbed the Innovation Kitchen, is expected to be operational in the second half of 2023. Freshpet’s new Innovation Kitchen will add to its existing manufacturing campus in Hanover Township.
In May, K9 Candy Kitchen opened a production facility in Los Angeles County following “overwhelming demand” since the company’s official launch at the beginning of this year. The 6,500-square-foot facility houses an internal R&D team to support increasing demand from private labels, as well as in-house formulation and product development capabilities. In conjunction with the new facility, the company launched a Himalayan-Style Chew private label division.
In June, Nestlé Purina PetCare opened its new state-of-the-art factory located in Rayong, Thailand, in which the company invested about $144 million. The 1,010,430-square-foot facility will produce wet pet food for the local Thailand market, as well as various international markets, following increases in consumer demand for premium pet food in the region. Purina’s new facility will support its Purina One®, Pro Plan®, Felix® and Fancy Feast® brands.
In mid-June, Nutramax detailed plans for a $30 million expansion on its facility in Lancaster County, SC. The company’s expanded facility will include warehouse/distribution space and manufacturing capabilities, expanding its capacity. The company manufactures both human and pet supplement products.
 
Suppliers
Scoular officially opened its new flax processing plant in January. The high-speed flax processing facility produces whole and milled flax for a range of applications, including pet food and livestock feed. The facility is the first flax plant to open in Western Canada in almost 10 years.
Later in March, Scoular also acquired two facilities in Florida from Columbia Grain and Ingredients. According to Scoular, the new facilities will help it better serve producers of grain and livestock feed within the Southeastern United States. The facilities now provide the company with more than 600,000 bushels of storage space for corn and bulk and micro ingredients.
At the end of January, Chapul LLC received $2.5 million in investments to launch Chapul Farms, a regenerative agriculture project. As part of the project, Chapul will build an insect agricultural facility in McMinnville, Ore., with the goal of establishing a more circular, sustainable food system using black solider fly larvae (BSFL).
Yesterday, Chapul Farms & @Nexus_PMG Announced Partnership to Scale Insects as Climate and Waste Solution.

Full-service integrated insect solutions meet best-in-class project development and engineering.

Read more on @Invest_RegenAg : https://t.co/EF0dFQtKaN pic.twitter.com/H8z7pSHNmN

InnovaFeed partnered with ADM to expand its large-scale commercialization efforts, which includes plans to construct the world’s largest insect protein processing plant in Illinois. The facility will be co-located with ADM’s existing corn processing complex and is expected to begin operations later this year. InnovaFeed’s facility will produce an estimated 60,000 metric tons of animal feed proteins using black soldier fly larvae (BSFL).
To celebrate its 20^th anniversary, Northern Pelagic Group (NORPEL) cut the ribbon on its new pet food ingredient facility in Pennsylvania. The facility, known as a “prep kitchen,” houses three processing lines and will help the supplier meet demand for fresh and frozen pet food proteins. NORPEL began constructing the facility in March 2021.
In February, PureField Ingredients completed its facility expansion, increasing its production of wheat proteins by 50%. As demand in the global wheat protein market continues to soar, PureField also announced that it is already planning another facility expansion. According to the company, demand for plant-based protein ingredients is largely driven by the bakery, packaged foods, vegetarian/vegan and pet food industries.
Singapore-based Protenga received an investment of $2 million to develop its insect production facilities. The company’s new insect farms will launch in Malaysia and will supply black soldier fly larvae-based ingredients to a variety of industries. The company also detailed the insect facilities would support its new pet food brand, YumGrubs.

At the beginning of April, Trouw Nutrition cut the ribbon on its new Blending Innovation Center (BIC), an expansion of its existing facility. The 32,052-square-foot facility houses state-of-the-art specialty blending technologies to produce microbial-sensitive blends, meaning the ingredients do not undergo heat processes such as extrusion or retort. Specialty ingredients produced at the facility include palatants, probiotics, oral health ingredients, raw diet premixes and supplement blends.
GA Pet Food Partners invested $104 million into its new ingredient facility in April. The company’s new Ingredients Kitchen boasts a bulk intake system, which processes more than 600 ingredients; a “ballroom” where ingredients are thoroughly combined for manufacturing; a Pick and Mix system with a capacity of 120,000 tons annually; unique software that manages, monitors and controls every aspect of the facility; a pantry with a storage capacity of 11 million bus; and more. GA Pet Food Partners’ Ingredients Kitchen provides customers with full ingredient traceability, according to the company.

In mid-April, Elanco Animal Health, Inc., announced plans for its new state-of-the-art global headquarters campus highlighting sustainability, community and innovation. The 220,000-square-foot, six-story structure will span 40 acres of land in Indianapolis and will feature indoor and outdoor work areas, innovation laboratories, open spaces for connection and collaboration, amenities and services for employees that promote flexibility and personal workstyles, and spaces for major global customer events and scientific meetings. Construction on the new headquarters is slated to finish within two to three years.
ADM announced a multi-million-dollar investment to add the ability to process non-GMO soybeans at its oilseeds facility in Mainz, Germany. The project is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023. According to the company, soybeans have grown in demand throughout the country’s wider food sector.
Later in May, ADM expanded its operations again with the acquisition of a feed mill from South Sunrays Milling Corporation. The facility, located in the Philippines will aid in ADM’s efforts to meet increasing demand in Asia for innovative ingredient solutions for animal feed and pet foods. ADM currently has two other facilities within the Philippines.
Regarding its North American operations, Symrise Pet Food unveiled its plans to build a new $65.5 million headquarters in Greenwood County, SC. The company’s new state-of-the-art facility will create 65 new jobs and is expected to be fully operational in 2025. According to Symrise, the facility will allow it to meet increasing demand for pet food, as well as to aid in the growth of its palatant offerings.
A coalition of Minnesota companies working to curb climate change, called MBOLD, announced an investment in a state-of-the-art flexible film recycling plant. MBOLD members involved in the facility investment includes General Mills, Cargill, Ecolab, Target, as well as Myplas USA, Inc., and Charter Next Generation. The 170,000-square-foot facility will be established by Myplas USA, Inc., will recycle an estimated 90 million lbs of polyethylene packaging films annually. The facility is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.
On May 3, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. broke ground on its $75 million expansion of its existing facility in Douglas, Ga. The facility will allow Pilgrim’s Pride to process chicken byproducts to use in pet food. According to the company, the expansion will create 53 new jobs in the area.
Supplier Biomega detailed plans for a new biorefinery in Hirtshals, Denmark, to expand its production of its salmon ingredients. The facility, slated to open this summer, will use enzymatic hydrolysis, a patented technology process that continuously produces salmon peptides, proteins and oils for the pet food and human nutrition industries. When the facility is opened, Biomega estimates its capacity will increase to 20,000 tons.

Kemin Industries cut the ribbon on its new distribution facility in Guadalajara, Mexico in mid-May. The new 36,000-square-foot facility includes office spaces, conference rooms and a distribution warehouse. According to the company, it remains committed to expanding its presence in Mexico and Central America with the new facility set to support its Animal Nutrition and Health, Pet Food and Rendering Technologies and Food Technologies divisions.
Ingredient supplier Cargill detailed plans for a new soybean processing facility in Missouri in May. The company anticipates it will break-ground on the facility next year with plans to be fully operational in 2026. With an estimated annual production capacity of 62 million bushels of soybeans, the planned facility will support growth in domestic and global oilseeds demands driven by the food, feed and fuel industries.
INDEVCO North America Plastics’ division INDEVCO Plastics officially opened its new facility in South Carolina, which the company began constructing in 2021. The 100,000-square-foot plastics facility boasts manufacturing, warehouse storage, offices and laboratory areas. The facility manufactures sustainable polyethylene converting films, as well as FFS (form-fill-seal) and Stretch Hood films for a variety of packaging applications.
In mid-May, Bühler Group completed its Insect Technology Center (ITC) facility. In the new facility, Bühler and its customers can conduct larvae growth trials with various feedstock, develop product samples, evaluate breed solutions and run training. The ITC specializes in black soldier fly larvae and mealworm production and research.
Aspire revealed plans for its first commercial insect facility in Canada toward the end of June, after receiving $8.5 million from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The facility will boost Aspire’s insect farming capabilities, providing it with the ability to grow and monitor billions of crickets, which will be used to create nutrient-rich protein ingredients for use in the human and pet food industries.
Calysta and Adisseo announced a one-of-a-kind facility as part of the companies’ joint venture project: Calysseo. The facility will manufacture FeedKind Aqua protein formulated through a natural fermentation process using microorganisms, converting them into a non-GMO, sustainable nutrient. According to the companies, the plant is the world’s first commercial, industrial-scale facility to produce sustainable proteins that do not rely on animal- or plant-based ingredients.

Coming soon!

Get ready to enjoy an aerial video tour of the new Calysseo #FeedKind facility in China.

In the meantime, here’s a sneaky look at what you can expect.#proteinwithoutlimits pic.twitter.com/hEqGF2sswv

Retailers and distributors
In January, Zooplus signed a multi-year contract with GXO Logistics, a contract logistics provider, to aid in the design, implementation and management of a new fulfillment center in the Czech Republic. Zooplus’s new 645,834-square-foot distribution center will help the company meet increasing demand in Europe.
Independent pet retail distributor Pet Food Experts (PFE) detailed its plans to expand its two distribution centers in Washington and Colorado. The expansions will include new freezers, significantly increasing PFE’s capacity for fresh and frozen pet food products. The company will add an extension to its Washington facility and will relocate and rebuild its Denver facility.
Find more articles related to pet food and supplier facilities.
New pet food, treat and supplement products introduced between January and June 2022.
New pet food, treat and supplement products introduced between January and June 2022.

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