Nestle will close its St. Louis Park health care and nutrition products plant over the next two years, erasing 243 jobs, according to a notice received Friday by state employment regulators.
Switzerland-based Nestle, the world's largest packaged food company, took over the St. Louis Park plant in 2007 after it bought Novartis Medical Nutrition for $2.5 billion. The plant's most prominent product is Boost, a Nestle nutritional energy drink.
Operations at the St. Louis Park factory will be phased out in 2011 and 2012, with the closing to be completed on or about Dec. 31 2012, according to a Nestle filing with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, companies must give workers a 60-day notice of a mass layoff, and also notify state employment regulators.
MIKE HUGHLETT
