Kerry expands Irish biotech hub to meet lactose-free dairy boom
Key takeaways
- Kerry’s expanded Cork, Ireland, facility significantly increases industrial-scale lactase enzyme production to meet accelerating lactose-free dairy demand.
- The expansion integrates innovation and manufacturing under one roof, reducing commercialization bottlenecks for dairy sector customers.
- Kerry’s Cork and Leipzig (Germany) biotech hubs now work in closer coordination, shortening lab-to-production timelines considerably.
Kerry has unveiled its expanded biotechnology manufacturing hub in Carrigaline, County Cork, Ireland, which the company says will significantly increase its capacity to produce lactase enzymes at an industrial scale.
According to the company, the move is a direct response to accelerating global demand for lactose-free and sugar-reduced dairy products — a category being driven by consumers who want digestive comfort and lower sugar intake without giving up taste or quality.
The lactase enzymes produced at Kerry’s manufacturing facility before the expansion already exceeded two million metric tons of milk every year. The facility expansion comes after the company’s recent opening of a regional customer co-creation R&D center in Expo City Dubai.
However, Kerry reveals that the expansion is not just about volume — Kerry is using the Carrigaline site to pull its innovation pipeline and manufacturing capacity closer together.
“For our customers, this expansion is about execution as much as innovation,” says Ronan Moloney, Kerry’s VP of enzymes. “With increased manufacturing capacity in Carrigaline, combined with deep application expertise, we can support customers through enzyme selection, process optimization, and scale‑up — reducing bottlenecks and strengthening supply continuity as they commercialize lactose‑free and sugar‑reduced dairy products.”
Lactose-free market expansion
Kerry underscores that, for its dairy sector customers, the scale-up in enzyme-dependent manufacturing positions the Carrigaline facility as a single, integrated partner that can take a producer from concept to commercialization without handing off to a separate manufacturing partner mid-process.
The scale-up also comes following Kerry’s announcement that it increased its R&D expenditure by €10 million (USD$11.76 million) to €314 million (US$330 million) in 2025.
Moreover, the facility now works in closer coordination with Kerry’s Global Innovation Center and its Kerry Biotechnology Center in Leipzig, Germany. This tightens the loop between enzyme engineering and strain development on one end and large-scale production on the other. The stated goal is to shorten the distance between a lab-based discovery and a commercially viable product.
Scaling biotech for lactose-free growth
Furthermore, Kerry maintains that the lactose-free dairy market has been growing steadily for years, and by most indicators, it is not slowing down. The company states that the expansion will set Kerry as the infrastructure behind that growth.
“This investment translates decades of biotech research into scalable, real‑world capability,” says Shane McGibney, president & CEO of biotechnology solutions and transformation at Kerry.
“By strengthening the link between enzyme engineering and industrial production, we’re able to move innovations more efficiently from the lab to the production line — helping customers access reliable supply and bring new products to market with greater speed and confidence.”
