Dairy mega-company Danone has announced it will completely transform one of its dairy factories into plant-based, to produce popular Alpro plant-milks.
The facility is located in Villecomtal-sur-Arros in France and it is part of a USD 50million investment plan to ramp up the plant-based production.
This investment was expected after the company acquired Alpro four years ago.
Danone is one of the largest yogurt producers in the world, Danone will now use its French facility to make mainly oat milk. Acording to Reuters the work will begin in 2022 and comes after the company revealed the market for plant-based products in France had tripled in the last seven years.
It is expected that once the works are finished, in 2023, Alpro will commence plant milk production in the facility.
Danone also announced it will invest millions of euros into one of its UK factories, to produce 300 million liters of plant-based milk year on year.
Alpro has had the factory for more than 20 years, but thanks to soaring investment, Danone funneled USD 20 million into “state of the art” equipment.
The plans also include all facilities to reduce energy, water, and CO2 usage.
General manager Sue Garfitt says
“The changes we are installing will not only accelerate the volume of products we are producing in the UK, for UK shoppers.
“But, will also allow us to keep ahead of the curve and continue being the brand to fuel the category growth.
“And, whet the nation’s appetite for delicious and healthy plant-based products, and of course, doing this whilst operating in a planet-friendly way” .
