The processor of the Beatrice and Lactantia milk brands plans to put its fluid milk processing plant in northern Ontario over to plant-based dairy substitutes.
The Canadian arm of France’s Lactalis said Wednesday it will stop fluid milk processing and packaging at its plant at Sudbury effective Sept. 30 and convert that plant to a “modern, dedicated plant-based production facility.”
More details on Lactalis’ expansion at Sudbury and the specific plant-based product offerings to be made there will be “announced in the coming months,” the company said.
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Halting the fluid milk line at Sudbury stems from a “long-term volume decline and increased costs in the fluid milk market in Ontario that have led to decreased profitability and economic sustainability” there, the company said.
Lactalis’ milk customers and consumers supplied by the Sudbury plant will see “no disruption to product supply or service,” CEO Mark Taylor said in a release, as milk processing will go to the company’s other fluid plants in Ontario and Quebec.
Plant-based foods Lactalis already sells in Canada include its Lactantia margarine brand; its Sensational Soy line of organic soy milk alternatives; and coconut-based alternatives in its Siggi yogurt line.
Dairy remains Lactalis’ core business — with brands also including Iogo, Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond, Olympic and Astro — but “we are constantly following the consumer and continually seeking opportunities to innovate and respond to the market,” Taylor said Wednesday.
The new lines of “complementary” plant-based products “will benefit from our current capacity and capabilities as well as our rich and long-standing dairy expertise,” he said.
Lactalis said it will still operate its refrigerated warehouse at Sudbury and will keep a “majority” of that plant’s workforce, both during the transition period and to handle its new production lines, with “anticipated additional employment opportunities” ahead.
Lactalis today has 19 manufacturing plants in Canada, most of which came to the company when it took majority control of Italian dairy firm Parmalat in 2011. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
