Ground-breaking ceremony for the innovation centre of Arla Foods Ingredients

30-Jan-2020 - Germany

The European dairy cooperative Arla Foods has begun construction of its innovation centre for the ingredients business in Nørre Vium, Denmark. The global demand for highly specialized products and ingredients is increasing. With the new centre, Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) will strengthen its innovation area and further exploit the potential of ingredients derived from milk and whey to meet the demand for nutritious and sustainable food. Around 90 internationally leading scientists, technicians and innovation managers will work in the AFI Innovation Centre.

The dairy company expects the business of Arla Foods Ingredients to continue to grow strongly in the coming years. Arla Foods Ingredients is a subsidiary of Arla Foods, which has transformed the former waste product whey into a high-quality premium ingredient for infant nutrition, clinical nutrition, sports nutrition and other food and beverages. Arla is investing more than 40 million euros in the innovation centre, which is being built in Nørre Vium, Denmark, close to AFI's main production site "Danmark Protein". On 9,000 square meters, a state-of-the-art facility with open office space, laboratories and a pilot plant is being built. Furthermore, the future close cooperation between the new innovation centre and "Danmark Protein" is the best prerequisite for process development and pilot production. In this way, all possible uses of whey can be researched and fully exploited.

"I am very pleased that we have now broken ground on our groundbreaking innovation center. We are constantly looking for innovative solutions for our customers to help them develop new products that meet the specific nutritional needs of children, athletes, patients and consumers. At the new centre we are using state-of-the-art research and technology to investigate milk and whey as ingredients for food," said Henrik Andersen, head of Arla Foods Ingredients, at the start of construction last Friday (24.01.2020).

At the centre, 90 scientists, technicians and innovation managers will cover all aspects of research and development in the field of whey and milk - from advanced separation technologies, to the insulation of certain components of whey or milk, to heat treatment and pasteurisation technologies to improve functionality and shelf life. Arla is convinced that innovation is the key to a successful future in the dairy industry. This is why the company has already opened the Arla Innovation Center (AIC) in Skejby, Denmark, in 2017. Today 130 employees work there. The opening of the new, specialized AFI innovation center is planned for summer 2021.

In Germany, Arla Foods operates two whey processing plants for the ingredients business within the framework of joint ventures: Biolac GmbH & Co KG in Harbansen in Lower Saxony together with the dairy cooperative Milchtrocknung Südhannover (MTS) and ArNoCo GmbH & Co KG in Nordhackstedt in Schleswig-Holstein together with the DMK Group.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1164664/ground-breaking-ceremony-for-the-innovation-centre-of-arla-foods-ingredients.html