Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) has broken ground on a new innovation centre in Nørre Vium, Denmark, which will focus on the development of advanced dairy and whey-based ingredients.
Arla Foods announced plans to build the new innovation centre in 2018, and the company claims it has invested over €40 million in the project.
According to Arla, the 9,000 square-metre facility will be located in close proximity to AFI’s Danmark Protein production site, and will feature open office spaces, labs and a pilot plant.
The centre will be home to 90 scientists, technicians and innovators, who will cover all aspects of research and development within whey and milk – from advanced separation technologies to isolate specific components of the whey or milk, to heat treatment and pasteurisation technology to improve functionality and shelf-life.
According to a statement from Arla, the close interaction between the new AFI Innovation Centre and Danmark Protein “will create a unique environment for process development and pilot production to unleash all the wonders of whey.”
Henrik Andersen, group vice-president in Arla Foods Ingredients, said: “I am very happy to announce that we are now breaking ground on our new game-changing innovation centre.
“We are always looking for new and innovative solutions for our customers to help them develop new products that meet specific nutritional needs of children, athletes, patients and consumers. With the new centre we can use cutting edge research and technology to explore milk and whey to their full potential as ingredients for a wide range of nutrition.”
Niels Østergaard, vice-president of Research & Development, added: “It is our clear ambition to continue to attract the very best colleagues who share our mission of discovering and delivering all the wonders whey can bring to people’s lives.
“The colleagues working with innovation in AFI are already among the most talented in the world and we look forward to welcoming more employees to this new and exciting workplace with some of the most challenging development projects in the dairy industry,”