The Eastern Branch organised a visit to Hain Celestial near Histon, Cambridge on 23rd April – St George’s Day. The visit was attended by a group of fourteen members; some retirees, some active in food manufacture, consultancy and food safety, and we were pleased to welcome one of our newer members carrying out an apprenticeship and on her first organised visit.
Hain Celestial is an international food and personal care company based in the United States with a portfolio of well-known brands. Although not that well known as a parent company, it operates in over 75 countries, has annual revenues of over $1.8Bn and manufactures at a number of sites across the UK. Its more recognisable UK brands include Hartley’s jam and jellies, Ella’s Kitchen, Gale’s honey, Robertson’s marmalade and mincemeat, Frank Cooper, Rose’s marmalade, New Covent Garden Soups, Sun Pat, Linda McCartney’s plant-based foods and Cully and Sully – an Irish food company producing soups, broths, pies and ready meals.
The site we visited at Histon was originally the Chivers jam factory and acquired by Hain from Premier Foods in 2012. The modern factory at Histon now occupies a site of many acres and produces ambient products including Hartley’s jam and jellies, Robertson’s mincemeat and spreads, Frank Cooper’s marmalades, drizzle fruit sauces and bulk jams for other manufacturers including Jaffa Cakes and Mr Kipling Cakes. The company also manufacturers ‘own brand’ products for major retailers. There was a pleasant, fruity aroma around the site when we visited although the company had taken advantage of the Easter break to suspend some lines and factory areas for maintenance, upgrading and cleaning.
The group were given an initial introduction to the Hain group, its product range and a brief history of the factory site. When in full production, the factory operates 24/7 manufacturing with a three-shift system. Many of the senior managers have been with the company for a number of years and weathered the changes in ownership and products. Product and packaging innovation and maintaining the quality and high profiles of the brands is a major priority whilst seeking ways of reducing costs and making efficiencies were seen as high priorities.
After the introduction we were fully kitted out as food operatives to include protective footwear and taken on a tour of the site. It was clear that the management take site safety and food hygiene very seriously and the production environment and equipment was in excellent condition. All the water on site goes through a softening process to ensure that water quality and mineral content does not affect the gelling conditions required for many of the products. Where originally, the site would have accommodated lines to process locally grown fresh fruit, now the factory receives lightly processed fruit and other raw materials in aseptic packaging or cans and can be immediately introduced into the manufacturing process. We also viewed the fruit mincemeat production area into glass jars and the Hartley’s jelly line where products are pasteurised, filled into plastic pots and given a cardboard sleeve before moving to a holding and distribution area.
This was a fascinating visit clearly illustrating how older manufacturing methods have been replaced with faster assembly production methods using a range of high-quality ingredients sourced from around the world.