Cecil cheese on wooden background. Angel Hair Cheese, or stringy cheese.

Kraft Heinz Ending String Cheese Production in Lowville, New York

Aug. 30, 2024

Facility will continue to produce Philadelphia Cream Cheese after Kraft and Polly-o string cheese processing ends in November 2024.

Andy Hanacek

The Lowville, N.Y., Kraft Heinz processing plant will discontinue production of Kraft and Polly-o string cheese products effective Nov. 28, according to local news reports.

The change comes as a result of conditions placed by the U.S. Justice Dept. on an agreement between Kraft Heinz and the Lactalis American Group Inc., by which Lactalis would purchase Kraft Heinz’s natural, grated, cultured and specialty cheese businesses in the U.S., grated cheese business in Canada and its entire international cheese business.

The agreement to purchase the business for $3.2 billion was initially agreed upon in late 2020, and the Justice Dept.’s ruling came in late 2021.

With regard to the Lowville change, Kraft Heinz told the local news outlet that employees would be able to transfer to open positions at the facility’s cream cheese packaging and processing teams, with compensation and benefits maintained. Philadelphia Cream Cheese would continue to be manufactured at the plant, it also said.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.