DuPont Nutrition & Health plans to invest US$60 million to expand its three cultures production sites in Europe due to increasing demand for frozen and freeze-dried starter cultures from the global yogurt, fresh fermented and cheese markets.
The European investments will be at the DuPont Nutrition &Health plants in Sassenage and Epernon, France, and Niebüll, Germany.
The first phase of the plan will be commissioned in 2017 with an investment in the Sassenage plant.
Part of this project will be the increase of fermentation capacity, biomass separation as well as freeze-drying capacity.
This will result in an increased production capacity for freeze-dried cultures by the end of 2018.
Frozen cultures production capacity will be increased by investment in the Niebüll and Epernon plants.
At Niebüll, some investment has been made already in a new pelletizer and further investment will be made to expand ultra-cold storage (-55°C) to increase supply of frozen cultures.
In Epernon, the plan is to leverage the existing fermentation capacity by investing in a new fermenter.
“The global dairy industry is expected to grow in the next five years driven by the higher consumption of fresh dairy products especially in Asia, as well as by the increased demand for cheese and cheese products for the food service industry,” said John Rea, probiotics, cultures and food protection leader.
“The investments in both freeze-dried and frozen pellets cultures format will reinforce DuPont Nutrition & Health’s leading position to serve and anticipate the needs of the global yogurt, fresh fermented and cheese industry.”
