A Howard County nut company is closing a leased facility in Jessup and laying off 85 employees in July, according to a notice it sent to the state.

Ann’s House of Nuts, which sells bagged nuts, trail mix and other food products, is consolidating its manufacturing operations into one facility in North Carolina, said Ron Arp, a company spokesman. The move is part of a larger “growth strategy” by the company, he said.

The laid-off employees in Jessup work mostly in manufacturing and warehouse operations and were notified last month, Arp said. The cuts are effective July 13 and the state was notified May 13, according to state records released Thursday.

The company plans to expand the North Carolina plant and add more than 200 jobs there over a three-year span, according to an announcement from the North Carolina governor’s office. Ann’s House of Nuts was described in the release as the “largest privately held provider of trail mixes and snack nuts in the world.”

The company, founded in 1973, will continue to keeps its corporate headquarters, research and development operations, and a retail outlet in Jessup. Ann’s House of Nuts is owned by Olympus Partners, a private equity firm based in Stamford, Conn.

In April, Ann’s House of Nuts voluntarily recalled a number of pistachio products after one of its suppliers reported potential Salmonella contamination. The recall was a precautionary measure, the company noted on its Web site, where more information on the recall is available.

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