Arla Foods opens £150m milk processing facility in UK

Dairy cooperative Arla Foods has opened a £150m fresh milk processing facility in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK.

The new facility, which is said to be the world’s largest fresh milk dairy, can produce around 1.5 million bottles of fresh milk per day.

It has the capacity to process up to 240,000 litres of milk per hour and one billion litres annually.

Milk to the 70 acre site will be supplied by around 900 British farmers, the majority of whom are owners of Arla.

Arla is aiming for the new plant to be the first zero carbon facility of its kind, and will utilise cutting-edge renewable energy opportunities to achieve this.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said that Britain’s dairy industry contributes £3.7bn to the economy and that Arla’s new facility is powering economic growth by creating 700 regional jobs, including 90 apprenticeships.

Arla Foods UK CEO Peter Lauritzen said: "Aylesbury has taken advantage of previously untapped technologies and an investment of this scale sends a compelling message to our farmer owners, customers and employees that we have made a long-term commitment to the UK."

Arla previously closed the Ashby de la Zouch factory, which employed 370 people, to transfer processing to the new plant.

Arla, which is the largest dairy company in the UK, processes 3.5 billion litres of milk a year from British farms into a full range of dairy products.