First Milk has announced a £12.5m investment in cheese and whey processing facilities at its Cumbria and Haverfordwest creameries.
The dairy co-operative today (1 March) unveiled capital investment in its cheese and whey processing facilities for the forthcoming financial year.
This includes £9m being invested at its Lake District Creamery in Aspatria, Cumbria, with a further £3.5m being invested at its Haverfordwest Creamery.
The investment at the Cumbria site will see new high-capacity cheese blockformers installed, as well as new water, milk, cream and whey handling processes.
This marks the fourth stage of a multi-year investment totalling around £14m at the site since 2019, which has seen major upgrades including a new rapid chill store and improvements to milk processing equipment.
The investment at the Haverfordwest Creamery will see a new chilled-water plant delivered, as well as a significant upgrade to the whey process.
This comes on the back of an £8m investment, completed last year, which included a new cheese tower, separators, additional milk silos, as well as the installation of a combined heat and power plant.
Overall, this £30m investment over the last three years will take processing capacity of both sites up by over 20%, according to First Milk.
Shelagh Hancock, the co-op's chief executive, said: “We are committed to investing in our processing facilities to drive operational efficiency, product quality and sustainability.
"This investment programme will unlock additional capacity, whilst helping us further enhance our award-winning product quality.
"This capital spend enables us to reduce energy and water use, helping us to meet our ambitious First4Milk environmental targets and reinforcing our commitment to sustainable dairy."
