A Saint Joseph company is expanding. Protein LLC, a supplier of meat ingredients for the pet food industry, will build a new facility at the corner of Illinois Avenue and the Stockyards Expressway. The $11.6-million project begins immediately.

The company expects to add about 20 new jobs to its 50-employee workforce. Protein LLC is a subsidiary of BHJ USA Inc., an Omaha-headquartered company that supplies value-added fresh or frozen raw materials to the pet food, pharmaceutical and fur industries in North America and Europe.

“The creation of new jobs and the construction of a new facility in the Stockyards Industrial Park is a signal that the animal health and nutrition business is still a vibrant part of Saint Joseph’s economy,” said R. Patt Lilly, President and CEO of the Saint Joseph Chamber of Commerce. “We are very happy to see new construction in the Stockyards area.”

The St. Joseph Regional Port Authority and Buchanan County provided the site to the company as an economic development incentive. Buchanan County performed an extensive amount of concrete removal that remained on the site from its former Stockyard use.

The City of Saint Joseph is expected to participate in the Enhanced Enterprise Zone program through a special incentive package of tax abatement. Formal approval of the incentive package is expected in the latter part of September.

“We are excited about finally breaking ground for our new plant in St. Joseph, which is designed to fit our future needs and allow us to better service our customers in the Midwest region, said Thomas Bendix Christensen, President of BHJ USA Inc. and Protein LLC.

Protein LLC is currently located at 2700 Stockyards Expressway.