Stowmarket mayor has commended Muntons maltmaker for its staff’s mental health and dementia awareness.

Muntons welcomed the Mayor of Stowmarket, Linda Baxter and her consort, Shirley Bonner, to a tour of their headquarters in Stowmarket.

The visit was hosted by Muntons technical and sustainability director, Dr Nigel Davies, who outlined the many benefits that malt can bring and its use in some well-known branded products.

During the tour of Muntons production facilities, the Mayor and her Consort were shown some of the recent capital investments and they were highly impressed with the multi-faceted operations, that reveal a more complex business than meet the eye.

Dr Davies explained: “We find it useful to explain to visitors our vision for future expansion to help them understand what we do on site and how and why we need to continually invest.”

He continued: “It was good to be able to explain our capital programme for the next five years, along with our desire to be innovative as well as expanding capacity for existing products.”

Mayor Baxter said it was a “real eye-opener” to learn how many products contain malt and the functional and nutritional properties malt imparts. “I commend Muntons for the friendly welcome and positive atmosphere seen when walking around the production facilities and offices,” she said.

“The position that Muntons plays in being a strongly performing international company supporting the local economy and employing a high proportion of local people is highly valuable to the town and county.”

Prior to becoming a councillor, Mayor Baxter worked as a psychiatric nurse in the NHS and is now a private counsellor.

She was therefore particularly interested in Muntons plan to help their staff focus on mental health and dementia awareness, as this was something she said was not a common focus in the businesses they visit.