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Petrow helps customers bring home nutritional bread and butter

Petrow Food Group has installed a brand new cutting-edge technology to help expand its range to include nut butters. The new line is installed at Petrow's multimillion-pound plant at Haverhill in Suffolk and is capable of packing into sachets, jars and tubs as well as bulk containers. The multifunctional machine can pack different configurations of a variety of product shapes and sizes and has been fully operational since January 2018. 

Petrow is already offering this new product range to existing and new manufacturing and retail customers. The high-specification technology combines mechanical flexibility with speed and simplicity to reduce set-up times, streamline packing processes and save time and costs. The result is nut butters cost-effectively packaged to customers' exact requirements. 


Armed with this latest technology, Petrow will be able to produce and supply a range of nut butters, excluding peanut butter, unique in scope and nutritional qualities – throwing open major branding opportunities to customers. Nuts are not only fantastic in flavour but packed with nutrition – qualities that chime with government messages on healthy eating. 


Almonds are rich in vitamins and minerals essential for health and wellness. Cashews meanwhile are filled with soluble dietary fibre, vitamins, minerals and heart-friendly mono-unsaturated-fatty acids often found in Mediterranean diets. 


The new Petrow line enables flexibility in product ranges that include tree nut butters such as almond, cashew, hazelnut, pistachio, pecan etc., plain or flavoured with other ingredients. Packing into small jars or tubs for retail customers, the packing line also processes large containers for industrial customers to use their nut butters in baking, cooking, ready meals, sauces, cookies, ice creams and other snacks.

This latest Petrow investment is perfect timing for growing trends. By adding the nut butter line to its existing state-of-the-art technology, Petrow is responding to strong customer demand for the healthiest alternative ingredients. According to figures from market research company Kantar Worldpanel published in January 2018, sales of nut butters increased by nearly a fifth last year to almost £94 million.


Fatma Akalin-McGee, Commercial Director, Petrow Food Group says: “We know our retail and manufacturer customers want to encourage consumers to lead healthier lives by offering more exciting and tasty products. At the same time, we are seeing a massive demand for nut butters and are thrilled this new packaging line will enable customers to offer a new range that makes healthy eating easier, more diverse and more accessible than ever before.”


As well as all their health benefits, nut butters taste delicious and add a lustrous culinary twist to sweet and savoury cooking. They are also big on protein and fibre, which not only satisfies hunger, but also improves digestion. As Petrow will produce entirely peanut-free ranges, all the nut butters will make great alternatives for people who are allergic to peanuts, but still want to enjoy the taste, texture and nutritional benefits unique to nutty butters.

Fatma concludes: “We specified the equipment with our customers in mind and to simplify packaging processes. We have tried and tested the technology and are completely satisfied with its performance and reliability. The line is simple, efficient and smart, and ensures perfectly packaged nut butters from a UK supplier, regardless of the Brexit outcome, making life simpler and more cost effective to our customers.”