WALLINGTON, UNITED KINGDOM — Thew Arnott, a business serving food, feed, and industrial customers across the globe, has opened a lecithin blending site in Monticello, Ill. The new plant will process standard, non-GMO, and non-allergen varieties of the emulsifier.

“This is another milestone in more than 150-years of our family business, and a logical next step building on the significant investments of the past 20 years since we began representing Lucas Meyer, The Lecithin People, following the closure of their UK lecithin processing facility,” said Richard Newman, managing director of Thew Arnott. “Finding a new home for the experienced staff, we opened a state-of-the-art lecithin systems’ plant in Wales in 2007; we followed this with production of bespoke confectionery coating systems.” 

In 2019, Thew Arnott acquired a 15-acre site in Monticello with rail access and room for expansion. The plan was to develop a Food Ingredient Center of Excellence, the company said.

“Within nine months the site was fully operational, and first products left the plant in the fall of 2020,” said Gerry Stuart-Brown, sales director. “Given the unprecedented circumstances and challenges arising through COVID-19, we count this as a fantastic achievement. Modifications and improvements have continued, and the team has grown. We are currently focusing on the dairy, feed and confectionery industries throughout the US and Canada, but also making available the many traded items that constitute our full portfolio of products.  Our considerable knowledge of bespoke blends now brings value to customers on both sides of the Atlantic."

Thew Arnott makes in-house produced brands of confectionery coating systems, lecithin emulsification and instantising systems, as well as a new range of powder systems to create texture, mouthfeel, and visual appeal.