Arla's Melton Mowbray cheese factory may close down putting sixty jobs at risk, as the dairy co-op today launched a review into the site.
The UK’s largest dairy cooperative announced it would be undertaking a strategic operational review of the speciality cheese site.
Known locally as Tuxford & Tebbutt, the factory, which has been making cheese since the 18th century, currently employs around 60 people.
During the review process, Arla said it would be exploring the market for any buyers of the creamery.
The co-op said the site would continue to be operational during this time, and there would be no impact to production, customers, or employees.
Fran Ball, VP of production at Arla, said that over the last few years, the speciality cheese market in the UK, which includes Stilton, had declined.
She said: “As a farmer owned cooperative, we are therefore looking at what this means for our business so we can continue to return a fair price back to our 2,000 UK farmer owners.
"We understand that today’s announcement will bring a sense of uncertainty for those who work at Melton Mowbray and those who work directly with the site team.
“We’d like to reassure shoppers that there will be no impact to the supply of our products, during this review period.”
The dairy cooperative expects to be providing an update on the review by April 2024.
