Dawnfresh lines up new capacity

Dawnfresh Seafoods has completed a complete refurbishment of its processing plant at Bothwell Park, Uddingston in Lanarkshire at a cost of over £1M.

The project involved adding four trout processing lines to one that already existed. It has created 220 new jobs and takes the factory staff count to over 350, said the company. The new lines were transferred from the former Scot Trout site in nearby Motherwell, which - together with RR Spink in Arbroath and Daniel's (marinated products) in Grantown on Spey - had been acquired by Dawnfresh.

"Uddingston will process 9,000t of chilled and frozen trout this year, which is 85% of the UK market, and is at the same time coating 2,400t of scampi, which is 40% of the UK market," said operations director, Peter Thompson.

The trout is supplied by 23 farms, which along with a hatchery were included in the acquisitions.