Kerrygold parent Ornua has announced that it has opened a new cheese production facility in Ávila in Spain.
The company invested €30 million in the 35,000-tonne mozzarella and pizza cheese facility which will greatly enhance Ornua’s pizza cheese-making capacity.
It has been built on a former Ornua cheese manufacturing site that was destroyed by a devastating fire.
'Growth Strategy'
Ornua CEO, John Jordan, said that the new facility is "fully in line with Ornua’s growth strategy of investing in world-class strategic production facilities to secure long term returns for Irish dairy farmers."
"It will reinforce our position as a leading, large scale supplier of high-quality dairy ingredients to many leading Spanish, European and global food manufacturing and foodservice customers," he added.
State-of-the-art technology at the facility allows the production of a range of cheese and cheese-blends with great flavour, an excellent melted texture, superb coverage and stretch, and an outstanding cooked appearance.
The facility is also equipped with an innovative quick-freezing feature, an in-line cooling system, and the latest technology to produce pizza cheese ropes for the growing ‘stuffed crust’ segment.
Joining Forces
The reopening of the Ávila facility also marked the creation of Ornua Ingredients Europe, which brings Ornua’s Spanish and UK Ingredients businesses together.
Led by newly appointed managing director, Joan Bombardo, Ornua Ingredients Europe incorporates Ávila and Ornua’s UK Ingredients businesses, with a total turnover above €300 million; four well-invested processing and NPD facilities and 600 experienced and committed staff.
"Our new Avila R&D Centre of Excellence becomes the 10th innovation centre in our international network, which will ensure that Ornua has the capability to support our customers at the forefront of the rapidly changing dairy ingredients market," Jordan said.
Presently, Ornua supplies enough cheese for over 100 million pizzas each year, including blends for both European and global pizza chains.
The global pizza market is believed to be worth in the region of $130 billion, the company highlighted.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
