Treatt, the UK flavour company, has announced a number of changes to its US business, Florida Treatt. The company has relocated its US facility to Lakeland, Florida, and renamed it Treatt USA.
Treatt said that the move to the new 65,000 square feet plant demonstrated its commitment to the US market as it would enable to better respond to current and future customer requirements.
The new site, which cost Treatt $6 million (€6.1m), was designed in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), and Treatt said that the layout of the processing plants, warehousing facilities, laboratories and offices ensured that the site had complete, controlled access for increased product security and integrity.
The company said that its US team had also been strengthened by the appointment of Dr John Boddington, who today took up the position of manager of Treatt's non-essential oil derived natural products operations from 1 October.
Dr Boddington's responsibilities include overseeing commercial, production and R&D functions related to the Treattarome FTNF (from the named food) natural distillates - which also benefit from a dedicated production area. Dr Boddington was formerly natural research and development manager at Treatt's UK centre and has worked with the company for eight years.
The Lakeland facility incorporates an 11,000 square feet warehouse and gives Treatt USA increased processing and blending capacity. The technical laboratories - including quality control, applications and sampling - have all been expanded and upgraded.
Commenting on the move, Hugo Bovill, Treatt's managing director, said: "This is a very positive move for us and a sign of our continued commitment to meeting customer demands. The new, larger plant provides Treatt USA with state-of-the-art laboratories, as well as increased space for product inventory. With an additional five acres of undeveloped ground there is also plenty of scope for future developments."