From Knox to Kind & Knox Gelatine to GELITA North America, the production of gelatine has been a perfect market niche for an international company with a plant based in the Port Neal industrial area.
The Knox Gelatine Co. was founded in 1890 in Johnstown, N.Y., as Charles B. Knox provided an easier way to make gelatine, which many people at the time made from soup bones. By 1908, the firm was the world's largest manufacturer of unflavored granulated gelatine and in 1966 the firm opened the local manufacturing plant just south of Sergeant Bluff.
GELITA USA Inc. Sioux City (the name change from Kind & Knox came about in 2003) now has about 270 employees, who produce a host of gelatine-related products from the plant. Spokeswoman Lara Niemann noted that if a person is enjoying a gummy bear, taking a vitamin or prescription drug or looking at photographs, they might be surprised to learn that the plant in Northwest Iowa makes all those things possible. In many foods, GELITA gelatine is a key component, such as gummies, marshmallows and nutrition bars. Gelatine is found as well in every hard or soft medicine capsule and is a key in the production of film and photographic paper, for its ability to bind light-sensitive substances to paper.
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In the corporation's organizational structure, the plant at 2445 Port Neal Road serves as the regional headquarters for GELITA North America and GELITA Photo. A food laboratory and research and development team are located in the plant.
GELITA recently established the GELITA Health Initiative to promote collagen hydrolysate (a form of gelatine) research in the area of degenerative joint disease. Research by GELITA into collagen hydrolysate has been ongoing since the 1970s, and the project has the goal of advancing the understanding of the role of CH in cartilage repair.
A European-based GELITA plant recently introduced CH-Alpha in German pharmacies, a ready-to-drink nutritional supplement containing a special type of collagen hydrolysate. GELITA North America's president Chuck Markham said the introduction of a product similar to CH-Alpha in the U.S. is on the horizon. "Although the CH-Alpha product has enjoyed success in Germany, we are developing a product specifically for U.S. markets," Markham said.
As the North America headquarters, GELITA USA Inc. Sioux City has oversight of plants in Toluca, Mexico, and Calumet City, Ill., outside Chicago. Those two plants employ about 200 more workers for a total of 475 in North America. Other world regions include GELITA Europe, GELITA South America and GELITA Asia Pacific.
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293-4203 or brethayworth@ siouxcityjournal.com
