SWITZERLAND – Tetra Pak has launched its first complete processing line for feta type white cheese products, with a fully automated and integrated solution – a feature that the company says ensures the highest standard of food safety and speed to market.

Tetra Pak said that the complete processing line has been designed to produce a diverse range of white cheese products, utilising proven technologies, such as ultrafiltration and high shear mixing, to facilitate customer exploration of a new market segment and increase current production capacity.

According to the company, the processing line works for both BAF (Bacteriological Acidified Feta) and GDL (Glucone Delta Lactone) using a hygienic and safe process to ensure long product shelf life.

“We wanted to make cheese production as straightforward as possible and enable customers to discover new opportunities in white cheese,” said Joanna Majewska, Business Development Liquid Filled Cheese Line, Tetra Pak.

“Using a closed and fully automated line solution, without manual contact with the product, we are making it easier for customers to achieve profitability, high efficiency and minimise loss. Plus, the product is food safe and ready for consumption straight after being packaged.”

Leveraging more than 45 years of experience in cheese processing, the Swiss solutions provider to the food and beverage industry said that the processing line will enable white milk producers and traditional cheese makers to explore opportunities within white cheese.

The global cheese market is expected to grow from 28 to 36.5 billion kg with a CAGR of 2.4% by 2030, with fresh cheese, including white cheese, representing 30% of total volume growth by 2030.

A market report by ResearchAndMarkets estimates that the global cheese market was worth US$ 69.7 Billion in 2019 and the market is further projected to reach US$112.8 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 8.4% during the period 2020-2025.

To further support growth in the market, Tetra Pak recently opened a US$27.8 million (€25 million) site in Poland, with sales, engineering and manufacturing facilities for cheese production solutions.

Tetra Pak’s 12,000 square-meter site in Olsztyn, north-eastern Poland doubled its cheese-making solution capacity in the country and allows for extensive equipment testing to help boost cheese production solutions and help its customers meet the growing consumer demand.

The centre has full scale engineering capabilities, from cheese making process design to mechanical, automation and electrical engineering through to manufacturing of processing solutions itself.