Ornua opens new mozzarella and pizza cheese facility in Spain

05 Nov 2019 --- Ornua, Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products, has opened its new, €30 million (US$33 million), state-of-the-art cheese production facility located in Ávila, Spain. The new facility has been built on the former Ornua cheese manufacturing site, opening two years to the day since a fire destroyed that site. The facility can produce 35,000 tons of mozzarella and pizza cheese annually, and will eventually have its capacity increased to 70,000 tons. The reopening of the Ávila facility also marked the creation of Ornua Ingredients Europe, which brings Ornua’s Spanish and UK ingredients businesses together. 

This enhancement of Ornua’s pizza cheese-making capacity and capabilities secures its position as a global pizza cheese supplier, the company says.

Ornua supplies enough cheese for over 100 million pizzas each year and the new division is a supplier of high-quality and nutritious cheese and dairy powder ingredients.

Supplying over 75,000-tons of added value ingredients to food manufacturing, quick service restaurants (QSR) and pizza customers, Ornua Ingredients Europe generates strong returns for Irish dairy farmers.

The rebuild of the facility, which employs over 120 people, included a major expansion and processing technology upgrade. As a result, the Ávila facility is now equipped to play a significant role in Ornua’s growth strategy of diversifying its product portfolio and building scale. 

At the forefront of the latest cheese processing technology, the Ávila site features an R&D Centre of Excellence with a pilot plant and innovation kitchen dedicated to developing the next generation of pizza cheese and cheese ingredients for the US$130 billion global pizza market. 

Its technology provides a wide selection of mozzarella and mozzarella-based cheese blends that deliver flavor, texture, coverage and stretch, as well as a good cooked appearance. It also features Individual Quick-Freezing capability, an in-line cooling system and the latest technology to produce pizza cheese ropes for the growing “stuffed crust” sector of the market.

“The opening of our new cheese facility in Ávila 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,” says John Jordan, Ornua's CEO.

“This major investment will play a significant role in enhancing our cheese ingredients capacity and capabilities. It will also reinforce our position as a large-scale supplier of high-quality dairy ingredients to many leading Spanish, European and global food manufacturing and foodservice customers. Our Avila R&D Centre of Excellence becomes the tenth innovation center in our international network, which will ensure that Ornua can support our customers at the forefront of the rapidly changing dairy ingredients market,” he explains.

Led by newly appointed Managing Director Joan Bombardo, Ornua Ingredients Europe incorporates Ávila and Ornua’s UK Ingredients businesses, giving it a turnover above €300 million, four well-invested processing and NPD facilities, and 600 staff. 

Headquartered at its Nantwich (UK) facility, Ornua Ingredients Europe will have the scale and resources, combined with the agility and flexibility, to identify and meet the ever-changing needs of its customers and their consumers, notes the company.

Edited by Elizabeth Green