February 24, 2014

Fonterra sets to produce first Anchor UHT product

After more than one year of construction, Fonterra's new US$120 million ultra-heat treatment (UHT) milk processing site at Waitoa is on-track to produce its first Anchor UHT product off the line in March.

UHT Operations Manager, Donald Lumsden, said: "This is a very exciting time for Fonterra. The global demand for dairy is growing and we're now well-positioned to meet this growth with our new state-of-the-art UHT milk processing site at Waitoa. The site will enable us to optimise the milk our farmers produce by turning it into high-value consumer products that will meet market demand in Asia."

The site includes five new UHT processing lines that will produce a range of products including Anchor UHT white milk and UHT cream. It will process more than 100 million litres of milk per year by August, when all five lines will be operating.

Lumsden said that with the site's technology they can produce up to 24,000 milk packs an hour per line.

To test the site's milk processing and packaging capabilities, water commissioning has begun. This means operating the site on water to ensure all elements of production are in working-order before the first product is produced.