National Foods has announced plans to invest a further $5.5 million in its Malanda milk processing plant on the Atherton Tablelands, following the $1.2 million invested over the last eight months.The investment will be in a wide range of upgrades to systems and facilities including improvements to flavour mixing capacity and refrigeration, milk process control and factory air conditioning systems. A new bottle filling production line was installed in October 2009 and another new line will be installed later this year.

National Foods Managing Director Andrew Reeves said the investment represents a tangible vote of confidence in Malanda and the region.

“National Foods is committed to Malanda and the dairy industry in Far North Queensland,” Mr Reeves said. “We employ 73 people here and our milk comes from 68 farms, all within 50 kilometres of our plant.

“We are an integral part of the community and our investment is about doing the right thing for our dairy operations and the whole industry in the region. We will be spending this money over this year and next on projects that will position us well for the future.

“We currently receive more milk than we can process profitably in Malanda. But we are committed to picking up all of that milk and working through the issue with our supplier, the Dairy Farmers Milk Co-operative. At the same time, we are doing our bit to ensure our facility is well-positioned for long-term sustainability.”

National Foods’ Malanda plant receives 71 million litres of milk per year, 55 million litres of which is currently processed into drinking milk and sold from Cape York to Rockhampton to Mt Isa.

National Foods’ Malanda site produces a range of white milk and flavoured milks under the Dairy Farmers, Dare and Oak brands.

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