UGANDA – Pearl Dairy Farm Limited (PDFL), the largest dairy processor in Uganda, has partnered with World’s leading food processing and packaging solutions company, Tetra Pak, to install a new Ush 9.25 billion (US$2.6m) packaging line.
The new state-of-the-art facility will enable the maker of LATO branded products, expand its offering to a new range of UHT products, while leveraging on Tetra Pak’s Aseptic technology that keeps food safe and maintains its quality for a long duration of time.
The wow factor of the technology, according to Bijoy Varghese, General Manager at Pearl Dairy, is that the end products will have a shelf-life of 12 months without refrigeration and about 7 to ten days after opening when continuously refrigerated.
This will enable the milk processor to reach further markets both in the interior parts of Uganda and across region, as it seeks to venture beyond the East Africa region into Ethiopia, Malawi and South Sudan.
“The new Tetra Pak packaging delivers the best in-class re-sealable closure technology in the industry currently which will allow consumers to safely store the pack at home without the worry of spoilage with maximum convenience of use.
“This new line will also allow us to buy more milk from farmers as it has capacity to produce over 130,000 litres per day,” Bijoy said.
This is an addition to the current 800,000 litres of milk a day, processed by Pearl Dairy into a wide basket of dairy products including Yogurt, Instant full cream powder milk, Whole milk powder, Skimmed milk powder, UHT milk, Butter, Ghee and Butter Oil.
“The new Tetra Pak packaging delivers the best in-class re-sealable closure technology in the industry currently which will allow consumers to safely store the pack at home without the worry of spoilage with maximum convenience of use.“
Bijoy Varghese – General Manager at Pearl Dairy
The installation of this latest equipment is part of the company’s expansion plans aimed at providing its consumers with the quality nutrition that is affordable and accessible.
Along with the freshness, the new packaging will also offer an environmentally sound packaging solution as it is made of bio-degradable materials.
Pear Dairy is one of the firms expanding the Middle East and Africa aseptic packaging market which is expected to grow from US$ 5.68 billion in 2016 to US$ 9.04 billion by the end of 2021 at a CAGR of 8.05%, according to Mordor Intelligence.
The Switzerland headquartered packaging solution provider, Tetra Pak, has always been at the forefront of offering sustainable solutions in the food industry.
Recently the manufacturing major announced a US$119m investment in Châteaubriant plant, in France.
The investment scheduled to take place across three years, will support the plant’s transition to the production of tethered caps by 2024, which can help to minimise litter.
It will further ensure that its European customers will be ready to comply with the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive, a key element of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan.
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