When you punch a straw into a kid’s juice box you’re breaking the seal on an aseptic product, one that may have been made at the Kerry facility in Byesville, Ohio.
The Guernsey County plant, which has been making juice since 1984, uses cutting edge aseptics technology to produce juice, fruit smoothie base and non-alcoholic adult bar mixes in air-tight packaging.
“From ingredient blending through pasteurization to the filling lines and packaging, everything in our manufacturing process is sterile,” explained John Kasinecz, Kerry plant manager. “The ultra-high temperature pasteurization (UHT) process we use destroys any microbes in the juices which means they can’t spoil and don’t require refrigeration.”
About 20 percent of Kerry’s customers are retail grocery shoppers. The other 80 percent is the food service industry including well-known restaurant chains, bars and cruise lines who use the bagged and boxed mixes to create and flavor beverages.
Their fruit products come from around the world, said Kasinecz, bananas from Costa Rica and coconut milk from Malaysia. To make the strawberry smoothie base they use more than 1,000 55-gallon barrels of strawberry puree every day.
Irish-based Kerry has 155 facilities in 28 countries and is a world leader in taste and nutrition. About 150 full-time employees work in Byesville.
