Arla Foods, the UK’s largest dairy cooperative, has today announced it has begun work on its £179M mozzarella plant in Devon.
Last year, the farmer owned business announced it would be making one of its biggest ever UK investments to enable it to produce mozzarella in Devon, from as early as 2027. As part of the investment, Taw Valley Creamery will be updated to include state-of-the-art technology – enabling the business to be able to export mozzarella that can be used for the likes of pizza toppings around the world.
The investment will create over 100 additional skilled jobs for the local area, and the business is looking to recruit for a variety of roles, including apprentices.
Speaking about the local jobs creation, Fran Ball, VP of production in the UK, said: “We’re incredibly proud to see work has begun on our state-of the-art mozzarella plant in the UK. As part of the launch of our mozzarella line, we are exploring how we can use this as an opportunity to recruit more people into the industry. In particular we are looking at trialling an apprenticeship scheme, which means we will be able to train apprentices over the next two years – with a view to offering them a full time position at Taw Valley – for when our mozzarella production begins. This is a really exciting time for Arla, and for all our colleagues at Taw Valley – as we continue to showcase Arla leading British dairy production.”
Today’s news follows the announcement of Arla’s 2024 annual results, whereby the dairy cooperative confirmed it made record investments of more than EUR 1 billion globally in 2024. Arla Foods has also announced a proposal to invest £90M into its Lockerbie site to continue its growth and support of UK manufacturing and the future of British dairy
Speaking about Arla’s support for British dairy, Bas Padberg, managing director of Arla Foods UK, said: “The investment into our Taw Valley site showcases our commitment to driving change in the UK, and supporting the future of British dairy. We are already one of the leading players in global mozzarella market providing quality cheese to customers worldwide, but this investment allows us to continue to support our farmer owners by returning the best price for their milk.”
For more information, visit arlafoods.co.uk.
(Main image: Arla Foods colleagues breaking ground at Taw Valley in Devon. Left to right: Jean-Michel Lequin (Global VP of supply chain and engineering & technology), Omar Arafa (Taw Valley site director), David Boulanger (Executive VP and head of global supply chain), Fran Ball (VP of UK production), Simon Grills (Global programme director)).
