cheese making one use

Irish dairy co-op Ornua is to merge two of its UK-based businesses; Meadow Cheese and The Cheese Warehouse, to create new division Ornua Ingredients UK.

The new business will launch in January and will focus on supplying cheese and dairy ingredient solutions to the food manufacturing and foodservice sectors.

Ornua said the merger would create a business with the “necessary scale and complementary capabilities to provide customers with a comprehensive range of quality products, category insight, greater NPD and innovation, and enhanced levels of customer service and support”.

The new company will employ 200 staff across two sites, with The Cheese Warehouse MD Aidan Wilson becoming CEO, and Meadow Cheese MD Michael Harte taking the same role within the merged operation.

“Both Meadow Cheese and The Cheese Warehouse have strong reputations for developing and delivering a range of high quality products tailored to the needs of their food manufacturing and foodservice customers,”said Joe Collins, MD of Ornua’s trading and ingredients division.

“By combining the respective strengths and capabilities of the two businesses, Ornua Ingredients UK will have a strong platform from which to expand its customer base and establish itself as one of the UK’s foremost suppliers of dairy ingredients.”

No job losses were planned from the merger, said a spokesman for Ornua. Sister company Adams Food Ingredients, which specialises in belnding powdered milk ingredients, is not affected by the merger.