CASSELTON, NORTH DAKOTA, US — Abbiamo Pasta Co., which uses semolina milled by the North Dakota Mill & Elevator in Grand Forks, North Dakota, US, to produce high short goods pasta, has completed a $15 million expansion of its pasta plant in Casselton.

As part of the project, Abbiamo added 94,490 square feet and 22 jobs at the site, which now will operate as the Abbiamo-McLane Global facility following Abbiamo’s partnership with McLane Global Manufacturing, a Houston, Texas, US-based diversified, international, grocery and logistics business.

The expansion also included the addition of a new short goods production line for Abbiamo, doubling its capacity to 120 million lbs per year, as well as a new packaging line for McLane Global with a capacity of 60 million units per year. Additional space for future production lines and capacity expansions also was included in the project.

“Abbiamo’s expansion and partnership with McLane Global is a tremendous opportunity for North Dakota’s wheat growers as well as a multi-million-dollar investment in Casselton,” said Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota. Mr. Hoeven also is a ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Agriculture Committee. “Our state’s producers are leaders in all things agriculture, and this facility expands their reach while keeping more of the production in-state. That means more jobs and more value going straight to our farmers. This is exactly the kind of value-added opportunity we’ve worked to seize over the years, and we appreciate the hard work and investment by Abbiamo and McLane Global in our state.”

Abbiamo Pasta was founded in 2013 by local farmers and experienced industry professionals. The company has been producing short goods pasta since 2014 and expanded its production capacity in 2017.