Purearth Foods has been awarded $485,000(US$342,520) from the $15 million(US$10.6million) Food to Market program to help the company purchase and install new processing equipment to increase efficiency and reduce allergen risk between dairy and plant-based products.
The Australian Government is considering the specialized equipment to enable the development of new products while also increasing the production volume of existing lines in the startup’s facility.
Additionally, the funds are also meant to enable the facility to expand which will also allow for more manufacturing capacity to support local independent brand owners.
By increasing production capacity, Purearth Foods will take its milk and plant-based products to new domestic and international markets.
The upgrades are going to cost a total of US$4million(US$2.8million) and once complete it is viewed to an additional 15 full-time manufacturing jobs as well as support local supply chain partners and farmers in the long term.
Meanwhile, Australian Consolidated Milk (ACM), one of Australia’s fastest-growing dairy companies has also secured funding from The Victorian state government to hire more workers and expand its operations in Girgarre.
The company has nearly doubled its annual capacity since the construction of the new facility that was completed just over two years ago and now processes 200 million litres of milk a year at its Girgarre manufacturing facility.
The company had expected to hire 50 workers at the new plant but has now added 65 staff exceeding its forecast jobs growth since expanding its site, which was supported by the Labor Government.
Minister for Regional Development Mary-Anne Thomas said: “We are proud of our investment in ACM’s operations in Girgarre which has provided a much-needed boost to the dairy industry, created more local jobs, and increased local manufacturing.”
Through the expansion, ACM manages 500 million liters of milk a year and supplies dairy ingredients to domestic and export markets, and has also expanded its product range, which includes milk powders, cheese, butter, and cream products across conventional and organic milk.
ACM is supplied with milk from 300 dairy farmers from Victoria state which produces close to two-thirds of Australia’s milk production.
