Muller butter plant aims to meet UK dairy needs
Muller Dairy has opened the UK’s largest butter plant in Market Drayton, Shropshire, to meet demand for British milk products.
The plant cost £17m and will process 90,000t of cream and produce 45,000t of butter a year.
“We know there is domestic and international demand for great British butter produced with cream from Red Tractor Farm Assured British milk and this new facility will allow us to add value and satisfy this demand,” said Ronald Kers, chief executive of Muller UK & Ireland Group.
“Britain is one of the world’s great milk producing nations yet it is reliant on more than £2bn of dairy products sourced from continental Europe and Ireland.”
The butter plant follows recent investments by Muller Group in acquiring fresh milk processor Muller Wiseman Dairies, a chilled desserts facility in Minsterley and Nom UK’s yoghurt manufacturing facility in Telford.
Muller UK and Ireland Group consists of Muller Dairy, Muller Wiseman Dairies, Muller Minsterley and TM Telford. Muller Wiseman Dairies processes and delivers around 30% of the fresh milk consumed in Britain and buys milk from more than 1,200 British dairy farmers.