Fonterra, Australia’s largest exporter of dairy products, officially opened its rebuilt Stanhope Facility today.
Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development Jaala Pulford officially opened Fonterra’s rebuilt and expanded facility, which has helped retain 120 jobs and create an additional 30 jobs.
Throughout the 18 month building and commissioning phase of the project, over 200 contractors worked to build the new plant.
The project included demolition and rebuilding of the fire damaged hard cheese room and installing modern processing equipment to increase production of a range of cheeses.
In addition, a modern mozzarella manufacturing facility was installed and a whey production and processing has been reinstated.
In December 2014, the existing cheese production facility at Stanhope was destroyed by a major fire at the plant.
The new facility has increased cheese production by 50 per cent each year on the previous plant, and will make hard cheeses such as cheddar and mozzarella for the domestic and export markets.
Nearly three-quarters of the 2 billion litres of milk processed by Fonterra each year is supplied by 1000 Victorian farms.
“We’ve worked closely with Fonterra Australia to facilitate the investment in rebuilding, modernising and expanding their Stanhope facility,” said Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development Jaala Pulford.
“Fonterra will be making cheese right here in Stanhope, in the heart of Victoria’s dairy country, and sending it around Australia and to the world.”