Danone North America, Broomfield, Colo., announced it will invest as much as $65 million during the next two years to create a new bottle production line in Jacksonville, Fla. The investment will support Danone North America’s long-term growth strategy and will deliver key benefits across the U.S. business, including advancing operational excellence, enabling flexibility in bottle design, accelerating the company's sustainability goals, and driving cost efficiencies, it notes.

Milo’s Tea Co., Bessemer, Ala., announced it will invest more than $130 million initially to build a new manufacturing and distribution facility in Spartanburg County, S.C. In the beginning, this new facility will bring more than 100 jobs to the area. Milo’s expects to break ground by mid-March 2023 and start production of its famous tea and lemonade in fall 2024.

Pernod Ricard announced a significant move to further leverage the strong growth and growth potential of its premium American whiskey portfolio: The American Whiskey Collective. The wine and spirit company will invest approximately $250 million over five years to build a state-of-the-art, carbon neutral distillery, with related aging warehouses in Marion County, Ky., for its fast-growing Jefferson’s Bourbon brand.

The needs for active women and clean label helped prompt the creation of the latest ingredients. Additionally, ingredient suppliers announce facility plans.

When it comes to making the “business case” for sustainable manufacturing, experts note that sustainable facilities can increase an operation’s efficiency by reducing costs and waste.

iTi Tropicals Inc. (iTi), Lawrenceville, N.J., announced the opening of a new passion fruit production facility in Vietnam. The new facility, operated by passion fruit industry leader Quicornac, offers iTi customers greater flexibility in budgeting, expanded product offerings, stability of production, increased availability, diversity in applications and more. 

PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) broke ground on its new 1.2 million square foot manufacturing facility at the Denver High Point development area, with local government representatives, community partners, and more than 250 local PBNA employees in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Beam Suntory, Chicago, will invest more than $400 million to expand production at its Booker Noe distillery in Boston, Ky., which produces Jim Beam. This expansion will increase capacity by 50%, while reducing the distillery’s greenhouse gas emissions by the same percentage, through the use of anaerobic digestors that will produce renewable natural gas to power the facility, according to the company.

T. Hasegawa USA will open a new plant to expand capabilities of sweet beverage flavors, while EverGreen Ingredients partnered with The Carbon Underground for a soil restoration initiative.