Farmer-owned Arla Foods, has today (Monday, March 19) announced its largest ever investment into the UK with highly advanced production technology at the Taw Valley dairy in south-west England.
With the new production capabilities, Arla Foods has said that it will be even better placed to meet increasingly specific demands from customers and keep pace in the fast-moving space of global mozzarella.
Executive vice-president and chief operations office (COO), Peter Giortz-Carlsen said:“Our mozzarella business has seen double-digit growth over the past five years and we have strong relationships with key customers, particularly in global foodservice.
“It’s from that very solid starting point we are announcing the investment today. But we also know that we have to work hard to maintain that position amongst the global leaders in the category and deliver on our strategy.
“This investment allows us to stay among the leaders within mozzarella, serve our customers even better and at the same time improve profitability for our farmer owners’ milk.”
Production technology at Arla
Arla has said that the investment in new technology allows for better flexibility and innovation opportunities to meet demands from customers, who need their mozzarella to brown, melt or stretch in a certain way.
The technology includes several patents and brings down the maturing process from 14 days to just one.
Executive vice-president and head of supply chain with Arla, David Boulanger said: “With this investment, Taw Valley will become a state-of-the-art cheese production site and combined with our strong channel understanding in the global mozzarella category, we are strengthening further our business.”
According to the co-op, the high-quality cheese produced at Taw Valley will add in-demand volumes to Arla Foods’ current mozzarella production.
Then, the majority of it will be exported to global foodservice customers around the world.
“This is a prime example of how we at Arla Foods constantly innovate in our process capabilities, improve our efficiency and drive product superiority in order to deliver our strategic ambitions, create growth and ultimately secure value for our farmer owners,” Boulanger continued.
Construction is expected to be finalised in 2026 with the first products from the new facility ready the following year.
The co-op has said that the investment will have no impact on Arla Foods’ two other mozzarella production sites in Denmark.