Consumer health products and pharmaceutical solutions firm Catalent recently completed a $3.2 million project to expand its Consumer Health & Beauty manufacturing plants in Strathroy, ON and Sorocaba, Brazil, a company release announced Tuesday. 

During the project, new softgel encapsulation lines were installed at each facility to increase production of the firm’s Vegicaps brand of plant-based capsules and its CosmoPod brand twist-off capsule technologies. The facility serves customers in North America and Latin America. 

“We have seen increased consumer demand for greater product choice, with sales of plant-based softgel technologies growing by more than 25% globally in recent years. Additionally, Brazil has grown to become the world’s fourth-largest market for beauty care products,” Dr. Aris Gennadios, president of Softgel & Oral Technologies for Catalent, said in a statement. “While we have been supplying the North And Latin American markets with plant-based softgel capsules from our manufacturing sites in Italy in Germany, this investment allows us to provide local supply solutions to markets that complement existing capabilities in Europe.”

The company’s Strathroy plant is 110,000 sq ft and its Sorocaba site occupies 124,600 sq ft. 

Earlier this year, Catalent completed a $14 million expansion project to add new biologics packaging assets at its Bloomington, IN biologics and sterile manufacturing facility.