DuPont Nutrition & Health announced a further increase in its manufacturing capacity - this time in Europe. The company will invest USD60 million expanding three cultures production sites in the region as a response to increasing demand for frozen and freeze-dried starter cultures from the global yogurt, fresh fermented and cheese markets. The company announced major expansion plans for its probiotics production facilities located in the United States in November 2016. "These initiatives for European cultures plants will further increase our ability to serve the growing global dairy market," said Matthias Heinzel, president, DuPont Nutrition & Health. "This additional capacity in cultures ensures that we maintain our recognized reputation for excellent stability and performance by leading customers around the world. Our investment will enable us to support their growth and geographic expansion," added Heinzel. The European investments will be at the DuPont Nutrition & Health plants in Sassenage and Epernon, France, and Nieb�ll, Germany. The first phase of the plan will be commissioned in 2017 with an investment in the Sassenage plant. Part of this project will be the increase of fermentation capacity, biomass separation as well as freeze-drying capacity. This will result in an increased production capacity for freeze-dried cultures by the end of 2018. Frozen cultures production capacity will be increased by investment in the Nieb�ll and Epernon plants. In Epernon, the plan is to leverage the existing fermentation capacity by investing in a new fermenter.