September’s top stories: Tetra Pak’s whey system, Smithfield-Shuanghui deal

Tetra Pak unveils whey filtration system for dairy manufacturers

Tetra Pak, a Swedish food processing and packaging solutions provider, has unveiled a new whey filtration system, Tetra Alcross RO Lite.

Whey is a common by-product of cheese production and it is often dumped as waste.

The by-product is valuable only when it is concentrated; however, the filtration technology required for this tends to be highly customised and too costly for small and medium sized dairies.

Private equity-owned Burton’s Biscuit Company up for sale

The management team at UK-headquartered Burton’s Biscuit Company has put the company up for sale, a deal which could fetch between £300m and £350m.

Burton’s Biscuit, which is the second biggest biscuit manufacturer in the UK by sales, is owned by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and the private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Duke Street Capital.

Duke Street Capital, which launched a debt for equity swap in 2009, holds a minority stake in the company.

Smithfield Foods completes $4.7bn merger with China’s Shuanghui

Smithfield Foods, a US-based pork producer and processor, has completed its $4.7bn merger with China’s Shuanghui International, after Smithfield Foods’ shareholders gave their approval on 24 September.

This development reportedly marks the largest ever takeover of a US company by a Chinese firm.

Shuanghui chairman Wan Long said: "Today marks an exciting new chapter for both of our proud organisations as we formally begin a partnership that will benefit our customers, employees, producers and partners."

Russia eases restrictions on imports of Fonterra dairy products

Russia has lifted its temporary ban on imports of New Zealand-based Fonterra’s dairy products, following the company’s recall of three batches of its whey protein concentrate (WPC), which were allegedly contaminated with botulism-causing bacteria.

Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being, has announced that it lifted the ban after analysing test results from New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

The results indicated that the bacterium detected in WPC manufactured by Fonterra did not contain Clostridium botulinum.

Cargill opens first poultry production base in China

Cargill, an American agricultural and industrial conglomerate, has opened its first poultry production facility in Lai’an, Anhui province, China, following an investment of $250m.

Initiated in 2009, the project involves every aspect of the poultry supply chain, including chicken breeding, raising, feed production, hatching, slaughtering and processing.

The facility is expected to process around 65 million chickens, as well as 176,000t of poultry products, per annum.

BRF Brasil Foods to establish manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi

Brazilian food processing firm BRF Brasil Foods is set to establish a new manufacturing facility in the food manufacturing cluster of Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad), with an investment of AED533m ($145m).

The company’s regional subsidiary Federal Foods has signed an agreement with Kizad for a land plot of 174,300ft² in the free zone area’s food manufacturing cluster of Kizad Area A.

The Kizad-based plant is expected to go onstream by 2014, with a capacity of 80,000t per annum, producing a wide range of meat products, marinated processed foods and other bread-based foods.

Vinamilk opens Vietnamese milk processing and packaging facility

Vinamilk, a dairy company based in Vietnam, has opened a new $110m liquid milk processing and packaging facility, the Vietnam Milk Factory, in Binh Duong province.

The plant, which covers an area of 20ha, will initially have the capacity to process 400 million litres of milk per year and more than 800 million litres in the second phase.

The facility features equipment and technology provided by Swedish food processing and packaging solutions provider Tetra Pak.

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