The Hilmar Cheese Co. says it will invest up to $100 million to build a milk powder processing plant in California’s Turlock Regional Business Park, and is expected to create at least 40 new jobs.
Construction of the facility will begin this summer, with an opening scheduled for summer 2015, according to a report by J.N. Sbranti in The Modesto Bee. It will continue to produce more than 40 cheese products at its Hilmar and Dalhart, Texas, facilities.
“About 50 tanker trucks filled with milk are expected to roll into the Turlock facility every day. That milk will come primarily from Stanislaus and Merced dairies,” reads the article. “The plant’s specialty equipment will remove all the water from the milk. The company already uses a similar drying process in producing concentrated whey and lactose products.”
The company, which has more than 1,200 employees, opened a second processing facility in Texas in 2007.
Besides helping the ag industry and local economy, the company says developing nations will benefit from the powdered milk product because in many instances it is their primary source of nutrition.
The powder will be trucked to the Port of Oakland, and then shipped around the globe. PD
—Summarized by PD staff from cited source
