Glebe Farm Foods has made a multimillion-pound investment to bring its entire production process on to one site for the first time.
The oat drink producer has introduced a new Tetra Pak filling line at its Cambridgeshire manufacturing site, which brings the food miles of its PureOaty range down to 300 metres between oat milling and packaging.
The company expects to open the packaging plant, able to produce 10,000 litres an hour, in August this year. It will have the capacity to make fully sterile packs for 12-month ambient storage in both one-litre and 500ml Tetra Paks.
“Our new plant is an investment in meeting a growing demand for oat drinks as part of a plant-based diet,” said Philip Rayner, co-owner and MD of Glebe Farm. “We know that more and more people in the UK want to know where their food and drink comes from and how it’s made.”
The packs will also have tethered caps for the first time, making recycling easier and reducing litter.
“Not only will our new facility enable us to produce in greater quantity, but it’ll help us do so in an even more sustainable way,” Rayner added. “We won’t need to take our oat drinks elsewhere to be packaged, which will mean they’ll have the lowest food miles of any oat drink brand in the UK.”
The facility will also create the opportunity for the business to co-pack for other manufacturers or retailers for the first time, generating an increase in capability in the UK plant-based co-packing sector.
“This upgrade is a big step for us as an independent UK producer, and we’re all really excited about where it will take us next,” said Rayner.
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