A new flavoured pitta chips business is due to start production in County Donegal, north-west Ireland, in April.

Largo Foods, which has its headquarters in Ashbourne, Co Meath, has set up a new subsidiary - Pita Éireann Teo - to make a range of flavoured snack food products from pitta bread.

The new operation, which is projected to employ 46 people by 2010, represents an investment of E2.1m. A total of E900,000 of that is coming from Udáras na Gaeltachta, the state organisation that promotes industrial development in the Irish-speaking areas of Ireland.

Operations manager Michael Gallagher said production will start in April for the Irish and international markets. He said: "We’ll be buying in pitta bread and producing the chips from that."

Largo is a leading producer of snack products in Ireland. Based in west Donegal, it already employs over 300 people, making over 150 snack products.