Hilmar Cheese Company has announced plans to build a milk powder processing facility in Turlock, California.
“We are expanding our ingredients business to meet strong global demand for milk powders,” said John Jeter, Hilmar Cheese Company CEO and president. “The U.S. dairy industry, and specifically California, is well positioned to be a consistent supplier to the world."
The Turlock facility will produce a variety of milk powders designed to be a primary foundation for delivering nutrition in various forms.
“With this expansion into milk powders, we are continuing our tradition of converting our high quality milk supply into the value-added products customers want,” said Tom Ielmini, vice president, Hilmar Ingredients. “We now have customers in fifty countries and are always striving to meet their needs. This is part of a broader plan to be a larger, more dynamic global supplier.”
Hilmar Cheese Company’s division, Hilmar Ingredients, will market the milk powder.
The Turlock location is said to provide numerous advantages, as it is ready for construction and the location is excellent for export opportunities through the Port of Oakland.
Hilmar said that the manufacturing process will use the most technologically advanced equipment to capture the water in milk for reuse to conserve precious ground water. Water will be recycled, reused and passed through a preliminary treatment before going to the Turlock Regional Water Quality Control facility. Energy efficiencies will follow the company’s direction for energy efficient lighting and use premium efficiency electric motors.
The decision to expand was guided by Hilmar Cheese Company’s original, second and third generation of dairy farm family owners. This group holds steadfast to the founding principle of paying for high value milk and the philosophy that long-term industry success will come from innovation in the marketplace.
“This investment will provide the family dairy farms that supply us milk the opportunity to grow. It allows us to develop new relationships with dairy farmers who produce high quality milk in this region,” said Richard Clauss, founding owner and chairman of the board of directors. “This project will help strengthen the California dairy industry and provide a nutritious product to serve customer needs.”
