Tetra Pak inaugurates new US$28m center for cheese production solutions

24 Oct 2019 --- Tetra Pak has unveiled a new 12,000 sqm site with sales, engineering and manufacturing facilities for cheese production solutions. The US$28 million center is backed with full-scale engineering capabilities, from cheese making process design to mechanical, automation and electrical engineering. The site in north-eastern Poland will double Tetra Pak’s cheese-making solution capacity in the country and allow extensive equipment testing.

“One of the main reasons we chose Olsztyn is its excellent location in the heart of a region with a great dairy tradition and excellent food engineering talent base. This means we’re perfectly placed to serve not only our customers in Poland but also wider Europe,” says Ola Elmqvist, Executive Vice President, Processing Solutions & Equipment, at Tetra Pak.

Recent years have seen a boost in global cheese consumption, partly due to the “westernization of Southeast Asia’s dietary habits” and rising living standards, notes Tetra Pak. However, as many new markets have little or no local production, they are dependent on imports. 

Large quantities of cheddar and pasta filata are imported, for example, to China and India each year and used either as ingredients or for direct consumption. Smart manufacturers in the larger cheese producing nations are taking advantage of the potential in these growing markets by investing in increased production capacity, the packaging specialist notes.

Tetra Pak Casomatic system SC7 for cheese and whey.In Asia, the European dairy industry is commonly regarded as being quality controlled, and providing safe, nutritious products, which makes Western European imports even more attractive, notes Tetra Pak.“To help our European customers live up to their reputation for safety and, at the same time keep their costs in check, we offer tried and tested equipment. Take Tetra Pak’s range of Casomatic cheese makers, for example,” says the company. 

“Designed and built with hygiene in focus, these machines are so inherently clean, that producers can run longer production cycles in between cleaning stops,” it adds.

At its new Poland facilities, Tetra Pak will support its customers in their development of new production methods and processes that meet trends for cheese as an ingredient, on-the-go snacks and high protein diet additions.

Tetra Pak offers a complete portfolio of equipment for both cheese and whey production. The company specializes in systems used to produce a wide variety of high-quality cheeses and we support customers with expertise throughout the manufacturing process, from milk intake and pre-treatment through curd making, drainage and forming, all the way to cheese handling.

“Exploiting the whey content of the milk is now also regarded as essential for long-term competitiveness. We therefore offer a range of technologies for whey extraction and whey derived liquid and powder ingredients,” says the company.

Embodying the company’s environmental sustainability targets, the site has been designed and constructed in full compliance with Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) requirements. 

Among its features to minimize its environmental footprint, the site has a fully automatic “weather control” system that manages ventilation and sunlight, and a rainwater collection system that supplies water for site maintenance.

By Benjamin Ferrer