SELMA – New Jersey-headquartered Do Good Foods will open a North Carolina production facility in Johnston County.

The company will invest more than $100 million in the new facility, which will be located at Eastfield Crossing in Selma.  Once completed, the facility will employ about 100 workers in job roles that average more than $60,000 annually, according to a statement shared with WRAL TechWire by Johnston County Economic Development.

Do Good Foods selected the site after an incentives package was approved by the Johnston County Commissioners and the Selma Town Council on Monday.

The company turns surplus perishable food from grocery stores into food pantry donations.  For any food unsafe for human consumption, te company process it into nutrient-dense animal feed, according to its website.

“Innovation and agribusiness are two words that easily apply to Johnston County’s economy, and few companies combine both those qualities in a more exciting way than Do Good Foods,” said R.S. “Butch” Lawter, Jr., chairman of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners, in a statement.

Berry Global is expanding in Johnston County, and Amazon announced a facility that would employ about 500 workers.

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Waste less

Do Good Foods launched in 2021 and has raised $169 million in capital, announced in October of last year.  The company’s first production facility is located in Pennsylvania, and the company announced intentions to replicate the model across the country last year.

“Food waste is one of the biggest – yet solvable – catastrophes as we waste approximately 40% of the food grown in this country,” said company co-founder and co-CEO Justin Kamine in a statement in October.  “To put it into perspective, that is like buying five bags of groceries and throwing two of them in the garbage as you walk out the door.”

The company will be based in Eastfield Crossing, a mixed-use community at the junction of Interstate 95 and U.S. Highway 70, the future Interstate 42, according to Johnston County Economic Development.

An economic model estimates an annual payroll impact of about $6 million per year, and the operation of the facility is estimated to add more than $73 million each year to the county’s gross domestic product, as well as more than $550,000 in county and municipal tax revenues each year.

There are not currently any jobs posted by the company that are available in North Carolina.  But job seekers in Johnston County can review a digital tool released by Johnston County Economic Development earlier this year to assist in a job search.

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