The Bronx lost its breadsticks, its Melba toast and now, its nuts.
The 125-year-old A.L. Bazzini Co.—known for making the “official peanut of Yankee Stadium”— filed a notice with the state Department of Labor Wednesday detailing plans to close its manufacturing plant in Hunts Point and move it to Allentown, Pa.
The closure, to take place at the end of July, will result in the loss of up to 57 jobs in the borough, according to the filing, though the company will keep a small distribution center in the Bronx that will employ six people and will also maintain some office positions in the city.
A.L. Bazzini Chief Executive Rocco Damato said the move was brought about in large part by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in January. He said heightened food safety regulations meant the company needed to update its production facilities. And it already had a “state of the art” facility in Allentown as a result of the recent acquisition of the chocolate company Bartons.
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