Building work has begun on a brand new allergen plant for food coatings manufacturer, Witwood Food Products.

The drive for cleaner labelling is behind the £½m investment at the firm's UK headquarters in Banbury. Work started this month on the new 250m sq plant, which will house the latest easy-clean equipment to provide a fully controlled, bespoke manufacturing environment. Manchester firm Mass Measuring Systems Ltd is installing the plant. Witwoods has reviewed its entire product range, identifying every recipe that includes listed allergens and coding products accordingly.

Every product containing allergens will be manufactured on the new plant, which will be housed in a sealed unit within the factory, totally eliminating the risk of airborne cross-contamination during the manufacturing process.

According to operations manager, Michael Rolfe, making each allergen visible in this way gives Witwoods complete control throughout the entire production process:

"Food allergies and intolerances are on the increase and it's the responsibility of manufacturers to ensure that consumers are not misled when it comes to food labelling. The tiniest amount of a potential allergen can trigger serious - and sometimes fatal - reactions, and the food industry has a duty to help ensure consumers can shop with confidence.

"By ensuring our products are completely allergen-free, we are taking the burden of ingredient declaration away from our customers, making it easier for them to supply allergen-free products for the retail and food service industries."

Witwood Food Products is a market leader in the development and supply of innovative food coating concepts for vegetable, poultry and fish processors worldwide. The new plant will afford the firm's proactive NPD team maximum flexibility, enabling them to develop innovative product concepts using a full spectrum of ingredients to meet broad-ranging customer requirements.

For further press information please contact:
Karen Tinkler The Partners Group 105 The Mount York YO24 1GY
T - (01904) 610077 F - (01904) 641646 E - karen@partners-group.co.uk