Associated Press

MASON CITY, Iowa — An Illinois company will buy a Mason City powdered milk business and then close the plant, putting 36 people out of work.

TreeHouse Foods, Inc., of Westchester, Ill., will buy the business from Associated Milk Producers Inc., based in New Ulm, Minn.

Associated Milk Producers spokeswoman Sheryl Doering Meshke says the company will run the plant through about Sept. 1. It will then be closed and eventually sold.

The company says it’s selling the powdered milk business to focus on other dairy products.

Workers in Mason City were told about the sale Thursday.