The growing popularity of yogurt and other cultured dairy products will bring more jobs to West Jordan.

A representative of Dannon Co., the U.S. subsidiary of French company Groupe Danone, said Thursday that the company will expand its existing West Jordan plant, adding about 100 jobs by mid-2008.

"The market for cultured fresh dairy products is growing at about 7 (percent) to 9 percent per year," said Michael Neuwirth, senior director of public relations for Dannon, based in White Plains, N.Y. "It's one of the fastest-growing segments of the dairy industry. . . .

"Based on continued market growth, we project hiring approximately 100 new employees (in West Jordan) by June 2008."

Neuwirth spoke of Dannon's plans after the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development board, meeting in Cedar City on Thursday, approved an $8.35 million tax-rebate incentive to encourage the expansion.

An executive summary of incentive proposal from GOED said Dannon wants to add 10 production lines to keep up with growing demand for products like yogurt and dairy drinks. The GOED information said the company is planning to spend $175 million to $200 million over the next four years to increase production.

Neuwirth would not confirm the additional number of production lines or dollar figures, but he said the company is planning a "multimillion-dollar, multiyear process" to expand its facilities in West Jordan and in Minster, Ohio.

He said expansion of the West Jordan facility, which currently has about 200 workers, is planned to begin immediately.

"As our business continues to grow, we look for ways to grow our production capacity, and expansion of existing plants is our preferred way to do that," Neuwirth said.

Tom Burdett, West Jordan community development director, said the expansion would be good for the city in terms of job development.

"They are high-paying jobs," Burdett said. "These are technical positions that run complex manufacturing equipment."

The average salary would be $52,586, which is 184 percent of the Salt Lake County median wage, according to a GOED release.

The GOED summary said Dannon's expansion is expected to create 295 new full-time jobs, but Neuwirth would only confirm plans for 100. He said the state may be projecting further into the future than the company.

"One significant benefit for Utah agriculture is that at full production, the project would require an expansion of the state's dairy herds by 25,000 to 30,000 cows and would result in substantially increased employment in the dairy, transportation and veterinary services," the GOED release said.

The state's incentive would be in the form of a return on 30 percent of new state revenues over a 10-year period. The salary threshold would be at least 150 percent of the Salt Lake County median wage, and the company would be required to keep operations in Utah for at least 10 years.

"The incentives offered by the state are based on the actual growth that Dannon contributes to the economy," Neuwirth said.

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Contributing: Doug Smeath

E-mail: gkratz@desnews.com