FDBusiness.com

Carbery Group, the Irish dairy ingredients manufacturer, has announced the formation of a 50/50 whey processing joint venture with one of South America’s leading food companies BRF Brasil Foods. The venture, which involves a shared investment of $50 million will use Carbery’s innovative technology to process whey generated at Brasil Food’s cheese making operations in one of the foremost milk producing regions in Brazil.

BRF, which employs around 115,000 people and has an annual turnover of US$13.7 billion, is the second largest collector of milk in Brazil. Together with significant pork and poultry operations, the company has fourteen dairy processing sites in Brazil together with one in Argentina and processes in excess of 1.6 billion litres of milk per annum. The company’s product portfolio includes cheese, UHT milks and fresh dairy products marketed under the Batavo and Elege brands.

Dan MacSweeney, chief executive of Carbery Group, coments: “This joint venture with one of Brazil’s leading food companies further enhances our footprint in the vast agri-food business in South America. Carbery’s capability to produce high quality whey protein ingredients in the country will strengthen our offerings to the leading nutritional brands there, and ensure we are positioned for further growth in a dynamic and growing economic region.”

He continues: “Furthermore, by growing our presence in emerging markets like this, Carbery is adding value to its core business in Ballineen, Ireland, and our other international facilities, in a steady and planned way, while demonstrating our ability to compete and succeed in world markets, using world-class process technology. Our R&D capabilities in Ireland are crucial to our offering, and we are truly confident of further growth and development opportunities into the future.”

Carbery had a turnover of Eur257 million in 2011 and employs over 500 people globally with 200 in Ireland. It is a leading player in the manufacture of whey based ingredients internationally, brought about by significant investment in research and development, principally at its centre of excellence for nutrition in Ireland. The outputs of this long term R&D programme has led to the development of a range of advanced dairy based nutritional ingredients which are supplied to many of the world’s leading international food and drink companies. Many leading consumer brands in baby food, sports and performance nutrition, together with foods such as yoghurts and bakery products, contain Carbery proteins which are recognised globally for their high quality and efficacy.