McCain Foods says it will spend $65-million to add a new production line to meet demand for hash brown patties and other potato products.

The investment will expand McCain's Florenceville-Bristol plant in New Brunswick, where the global frozen foods company got its start.

It says the expansion will create 40 to 50 new jobs.

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Construction on the expansion is to begin immediately and the new line will begin production in late 2017 or early 2018.

Globally, McCain Foods employs more than 17,000 people and operates 42 production plants on six continents.

McCain's says this will be its biggest single investment in any Canadian facility since 2008, when it opened the current Florenceville-Bristol french fry plant. It replaced the company's original plant, built in 1957.