Milling & Baking News - December 17, 2019 - 12

Business

Miller Milling closing flour mill
in Minnesota; age, location cited
BLOOMINGTON, MINN. - Miller
Milling Co. is closing its flour mill in New
Prague, Minn., at the end of December.
"This decision was very difficult,
given the quality and long-serving
tenure of New Prague's employees,"
said Takuya Mitani, chief executive officer. "However, this step is necessary
so Miller Milling can focus its attention and investment on expanding the
business of its other mills."
The mill, with 18,000 cwts of daily
flour milling capacity, is one of six operated by Miller Milling. The closing will
reduce the company's aggregate capacity to 88,000 cwts from 106,000, based
on figures in Sosland Publishing Company's 2020 Grain & Milling Annual.
The company cited the mill's age
and location as primary factors behind
the decision to cease production. The
mill is 123 years old. According to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, the
operating rate of Minnesota flour mills

was 69.7% in July-September, the lowest in the United States and compared
with a national average of 82.9%.
"Despite the tremendous work of
our team at the mill, the age and location of the facility significantly limited our ability to supply customers in

MILLER MILLING

a cost-effective manner," Mr. Mitani
said. Mr. Mitani was named c.e.o. of
Miller Milling in November.
The New Prague mill was one of
four acquired by Miller Milling Co.
in 2014 from ConAgra Foods, Inc.

Scoular debuts new name
for pet food subsidiary
OMAHA, NEB. - Scoular Co. has named
its new freeze-dried pet food ingredient
manufacturing subsidiary Petsource by
Scoular.
The name was announced on Dec. 10.
Petsource will develop, procure, freezedry and package high-protein ingredients
for pet food manufacturers.
"The name 'Petsource' signifies that we
are redefining what start-to-finish looks
like in pet food ingredient manufacturing," said Amy Patterson, general manager of Petsource. "Petsource will be a
one-stop shop for unparalleled levels of
safety, quality and reliability across the
freeze-dried pet food supply chain."
Central to the project is a $50 million,
105,000-square-foot freeze-drying manufacturing plant under construction in

Seward, Neb. Scoular broke ground in
August, and the plant is on track to open
in the fall of 2020.
The plant will create up to 100 new jobs
in Seward. Hiring is expected to begin in
the spring of 2020.
Petsource also announced Jon Heussner as director of operations responsible
for manufacturing at the Seward site.
Mr. Heussner has held leadership roles
in operations, project management and
engineering for Tyson Foods, Conagra
Brands, Hain Celestial Group and, most
recently, Dean Foods.
"As a lifelong pet owner with years of
supply chain experience, it is a privilege
to work with the great team assembled by
Petsource to manufacture safe and highquality products," Mr. Heussner said.

Report: I.F.F., Kerry interested in
DuPont nutrition business
NEW YORK - The battle to win the
rights to the nutrition division of DuPont
is heating up, according to Bloomberg.
In a story published on Dec. 8 on the
news agency's web site, Bloomberg cited
sources claiming that New York-based International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc. has
12 / December 17, 2019

Milling & Baking News

emerged as a strong contender - along
with Dublin, Ireland-based Kerry Group
- to acquire DuPont's nutrition division.
Bloomberg first reported that DuPont
was considering a sale of the nutrition
business back in early August. At that
time, the business was said to be valued at

and Cargill. The four had a combined
capacity of 58,600 cwts, more than
doubling the U.S. milling capacity of
Miller Milling, which has been owned
since 2012 by Nisshin Seifun Group.
In addition to New Prague, the
mills acquired in 2014 are located in
Commerce and Oakland, Calif., and
Saginaw, Texas. In 2016, Miller Milling
began a project expanding capacity
at Saginaw. The Saginaw project has
been completed, and the mill now has
daily capacity of 24,000 cwts. Miller's
other flour mills are located in Fresno,
Calif., and Winchester, Va.
The New Prague mill was built in
1896 with 1,000 cwts of daily milling
capacity and is located about one hour
southwest of Minneapolis. The mill
originally was named New Prague
Flouring Mill Co. and was renamed
International Milling Co. in 1910.
The business, later renamed International Multifoods Corp., grew to be
one of the largest milling and ingredient companies in the United States.
Its mills were sold to ConAgra (now
Conagra Brands) in 1988. MBN

When plans for the Seward facility
were first announced in March, Paul T.
Maass, chief executive officer of Scoular,
said the need for quality ingredients has
grown and expanded alongside the pet
food industry.
"Pet owners increasingly seek proteinrich, nutritious and convenient products,"
Mr. Maass said. "Scoular has worked with
pet food partners for years providing procurement and supply chain solutions. This
facility will provide our pet food customers
a simplified and efficient ingredient supply
chain, while meeting the fast-growing demand for freeze-dried protein ingredients."
In addition to procurement and sourcing solutions, Scoular offers blending, custom packaging/repackaging, risk management and logistics services for the pet
food industry. The company offers a broad
spectrum of ingredients from No. 2 yellow
corn to specialized gravy dust mix, proteins and fats to starches and flours. MBN
$25 billion. Over the next several months
Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge
of the matter, said a number of companies
were interested in the business, including
Royal DSM n.v., Givaudan S.A. and Kerry.
In its Dec. 8 story, Bloomberg said I.F.F.
and Kerry are both negotiating with DuPont and a decision could be reached by
the end of the year.
Representatives for DuPont, I.F.F. and
Kerry have not commented. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

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Milling & Baking News - December 17, 2019

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