Arla Foods Ingredients to Invest €120 in New Lactose Plant

Arla Foods Ingredients (Viby J, Denmark) plans to invest €120 in a new lactose manufacturing plant in Denmark, in part to meeting growing demand for lactose in the infant formula industry. The plant will be located next to the company’s existing main protein factory in Jutland and will have an annual capacity of 85,000 metric tons of lactose. Construction is set for completion by October 2014, and the facility will be fully operational in 2016.

“This investment sends a strong signal to the whey ingredients market that we remain committed to supplying high-quality products to the global nutrition and food industry,” says CEO Henrik Andersen. “We have had a very constructive dialogue with a number of leading customers regarding their future demands for lactose quality, and our new plant will deliver on these demands.”

Lactose, a milk sugar, is a carbohydrate and a natural component of milk that is industrially extracted from whey by evaporation and crystallization.