Iowa food producer to build $100 million broth-making plant in Dalton, Georgia

A map showing Dalton, Georgia. / Getty Images/yorkfoto
A map showing Dalton, Georgia. / Getty Images/yorkfoto

An Iowa-based producer of food-grade stocks, broths and fats used by a variety of food producers is expanding to North Georgia with plans to build a $100 million plant in Dalton.

Essentia Protein Solutions, a global producer of animal protein solutions for the food and beverage industry, announced Tuesday that it will build a broth manufacturing plant in the Carbondale Business Park in Dalton to expand its production beyond its three facilities in Iowa.

"We've been focused for the past 30-plus years on clean-label protein solutions for other businesses, and you can find our proteins across a wide variety products in your supermarket, whether it be Campbell's or Progresso soup or many other foods," Corey Jansen, president and CEO of Essentia North America, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "Our business has been growing as more and more consumers want clean-label and protein ingredients in the food they eat."

According to Essentia's website, clean-label protein is, "Derived from natural meat and bone raw materials and manufactured using only a minimum of thermal and mechanical processing ...".

Jansen said Essentia began looking for another production site a few years ago and finally decided upon Dalton based upon its centralized location, its proximity to abundant chicken supplies in the poultry belt and the availability of production workers to staff the new plant.

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Essentia, which is part of The Lauridsen Group and based in Ankeny, Iowa, produces its solutions from chicken, turkey, lamb, fish, beef and pork.

"There is a lot of raw material for us in the Southeast, especially in poultry," Jansen said.

The advanced fractionation methods used by the company takes refrigerated meat products and cooks and processes the food into protein ingredients and broth without using any food additives.

The new plant is projected to begin production in 2024 after site work and an 18-month construction period. The facility is planned for a 20-acre site in the Carbondale Business Park and will employ 80 workers. The jobs will pay a starting wage of at least $20 an hour, Jansen said.

Pat Wilson, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, welcomed the new investment in the industrial park, which has been developed in partnership with the Dalton-Whitfield County Joint Development Authority and the city of Dalton and Whitfield County.

"Food processing is one of Georgia's top manufacturing sectors, and we are proud to welcome Essentia to this $1 billion ecosystem in our state," Wilson said in a statement.

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Whitfield County Commission Chairman Jevin Jensen said in a phone interview the food processor will help expand the economy of Dalton, which bills itself as the carpet capital of the world because of the many floorcovering manufacturers in the area.

"This modern, automated food products plant will help to diversify our economy, add to our tax base and provide good job opportunities paying above current median wages," Jensen said.

Essentia will be the fourth company to locate in the Carbondale Business Park, following the opening over the past three years of the Korean solar cell maker Hanwhah Q Cells along with adhesive maker Bostike and the automotive parts maker Gedia. The 300,000-square-foot Q Cells plant is the biggest solar panel manufacturing plant in the country capable of producing enough solar panels to generate as much peak power as the Hoover Dam every year.

"Q Cells is expanding, and Essentia will start soon, so the park will be a busy place," Carl Campbell, executive director for the Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority, said in an email message late Tuesday.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.


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