Crosse & Blackwell is a food production brand which has been in existence since 1706.

Originally trading under the Jackson brand and then West and Wyatt, the company was purchased in 1830 by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell. Over the years, the brand has been applied to various varieties of canned, dried and bottled grocery products.

In 1960, Nestlé

Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...

 bought the Crosse & Blackwell Group and developed the name across a number of food categories worldwide.
The acquisition increased Nestlé's output (adding 11 factories). The acquisition including the largest fish-canning factory in the UK (located in Peterhead

Peterhead

Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....

, Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

, North East Scotland). Crosse & Blackwell employed 4,700 workers in production and 1,900 other employees and salesman at the time of the acquisition.

However, the company divested the Crosse & Blackwell operations in 2002. Today ownership of the Crosse & Blackwell brand is divided between The J.M. Smucker Company in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and Princes Foods

Princes (company)

Princes Ltd. is a UK-based food manufacturer originally specialising in canned foods and that produces a range of food and drink products. It is the third largest supplier of soft drinks in the UK, and the number one supplier of canned food in the UK...

 in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, having previously been owned by Premier Foods

Premier Foods

Premier Foods plc is a British food manufacturer headquartered in St Albans, Hertfordshire. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...

.