TreeHouse Foods to lay off 375 workers and close 2 factories

TreeHouse Foods will lay off about 375 workers and close two factories in Minnesota and Indiana, as the packaged food maker cuts costs.

The layoffs, announced Thursday, make up about 2 percent of the 16,000 people the company employed at the end of last year. It has more than 50 factories in the U.S., Canada and Italy.

TreeHouse, like other packaged food companies, has been hurt as more people chose to eat fresh foods and shop online instead of going to stores. The Oak Brook, Illinois, company makes snack bars, cereal and other packaged products under private brands.

About 150 workers will lose their jobs at a pickle factory in Plymouth, Indiana, which will close by the end of the year.

The second factory, which makes boxed meals in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, has about 90 workers and will also close by the end of the year.

An additional 135 employees at a Dothan, Alabama, factory will be laid off. But that factory, which makes products trail mixes, will remain open.