American fruit and healthy snacks distributor Dole Packaged Foods has opened a new frozen fruit facility in McDonough, Georgia.

Covering approximately 60,000ft², the new facility features four fully automated manufacturing lines, which have the capacity to annually produce 60Mlb of frozen fruit.

Dole’s new facility will package frozen fruit for its retail, food service and private label customers on the East Coast.

The company has already begun production on a phased approach and the facility is expected to become fully operational by this September.

once fully operational, the facility is expected to employ more than 100 Dole associates and will run three shifts.

The McDonough facility is Dole’s third frozen fruit facility in the US, the other two located in Atwater, California; and Decatur, Michigan.

Dole has partnered with the US Cold Storage to handle the warehousing and distribution in an adjacent building with automated storage/retrieval system.

The company said that it has partnered with the US Cold Storage to manage the warehousing and distribution in an adjacent building with automated storage/retrieval system.

The new facility will allow Dole to offer more nutritious and healthy frozen fruit to consumers.

Dole Packaged Foods North America Supply Chain and Operations vice-president Sunil Phabiani said: “We are very pleased to have this facility operational.

“One of our company’s main initiatives is to provide access to good nutrition for a billion people in the next few years. This operation will help us achieve this goal.”