Dairy Dialog podcast 59: Tetra Pak, DSM and Cheese Journeys

We spoke to Ola Elmqvist, executive vice president, processing solutions & equipment at Tetra Pak, about the company’s new cheese production facility in Poland; Anna Juhl, founder of Cheese Journeys, about the company’s cheese tourism operations; and Mark van Nieuwland, program director at DSM, about trials of the methane inhibitor, Bovaer.

We also have our weekly look at the global dairy markets with Liam Fenton from INTL FCStone.

Tetra Pak invests €25m in cheese production centre in Poland

Tetra Pak has announced the opening of a €25m ($27.8m) site in Poland with sales, engineering and manufacturing facilities for cheese production solutions.

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

Employing more than 350 staff across engineering, production and business management, the 12,000 sqm site in Olsztyn, north-eastern Poland, will double Tetra Pak’s cheese-making solution capacity in the country and allow extensive equipment testing.

Ola Elmqvist, executive vice president, processing solutions & equipment at Tetra Pak, said, “As the only company able to deliver a completely seamless integrated solution for cheese production, this investment demonstrates our commitment to help customers meet rapidly changing consumer demands and capture emerging growth opportunities.” ​

Tetra Pak said it helps customers develop new production methods and processes that meet trends for cheese as an ingredient, on-the-go snack and high protein diet addition.

“One of the main reasons we chose Olsztyn is its excellent location in the heart of a region with a great dairy tradition and excellent food engineering talent base. This means we’re perfectly placed to serve not only our customers in Poland but also wider Europe,”​ Elmqvist said.

The site has been designed and constructed in full compliance with Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) requirements. Among the features included to minimize its environmental footprint, the site has an automatic ‘weather control’ system that manages ventilation and sunlight, and a rainwater collection system that supplies water for site maintenance.

Cheese Journeys explores UK cheese with five-day tourist trip

US company Cheese Journeys will take cheese professionals and enthusiasts to explore local culinary culture as they travel from London to the southwest cheese-producing region of Somerset from March 30 to April 3, 2020.

The five-day trip, where they will encounter cheesemakers and affineurs, including the ‘Cheddar families’ – Montgomery, Westcombe, and Keens – as well as producers of Stichelton, Cheshire, Leicester and others.

The guided tour begins at London’s Borough Market with a behind-the-scenes look at the retail shop and aging facility of Neal’s Yard Dairy, before travelers head to Somerset, the birthplace of cheddar as well as the reputed location of King Arthur’s Camelot.

Guests will stay at the English manor, North Cadbury Court, family home of the makers of Montgomery’s Cheddar, and the set location for the 2007 film ‘Persuasion.’

During the four-day stay, the group will be joined by Cheddar maker Jamie Montgomery, and will take a walking tour of the estate that includes the dairy, pastures of Jersey cows and the castle ruins.

In addition to English cheeses like Cheddar, Cheshire, Leicester and Stichelton, a camembert-style fromage, Tunworth, as well as a chèvre and sheep’s milk cheese, will on be on the tasting menu. To accompany the cheeses, artisan hard ciders, including those from The Somerset Cider Brandy Company, will be available.

Tom Calver, cheesemaker of Westcombe Cheddar, Duckett’s Aged Caerphilly and Somerset Ricotta, will host a visit to his creamery, which will also include cheese pairings with craft beers from Wild Beer Company.

While staying at North Cadbury Court, participants will also have the opportunity to take a food photography class, a cheese painting class, as well as other activities.

Anna Juhl, who founded Cheese Journeys six years ago, said, “Cheese Journeys offers travelers a unique back-door food travel experience that no other trip can offer - one which will stay with them for a lifetime. ​

“Some pleasures, like cheese, are worth experiencing in their truest form, at the source. While these journeys offer knowledge and discovery, pleasure and entertainment, most importantly they awaken all of the senses.”​

During the tour, Cheese Journeys’ London-based chefs, Sylvain Jamois and Romain Alinat, will share their knowledge of regional foods through a selection of well-prepared meals.

DSM takes next step towards implementation of methane inhibitor Bovaer

Royal DSM, a Dutch-headquartered global science-based company in nutrition, health and sustainable living, is taking the next step towards implementation of its methane inhibitor, Bovaer, in the Netherlands through a trial at the Dairy Campus in Leeuwarden that aims to gather all information necessary for accreditation of Bovaer by the Carbon Footprint Monitor/Climate Module of the Kringloopwijzer (the Annual Nutrient Cycling Assessment).

The trial has been designed with a consortium from across the Dutch dairy chain, comprising of DSM, Wageningen University & Research, FrieslandCampina, Agrifirm, De Heus and ForFarmers.

It will deliver methane reduction results for different ratios of grass silage and maize silage diets typical for Dutch conditions, and different dosages of Bovaer.

The trial will run from November 2019 to February 2020 and is supervised by a team of cattle nutrition experts from Wageningen University & Research (André Bannink, Sanne van Gastelen and Jan Dijkstra). The knowledge gained in this study will be applicable across Europe.

It builds on the experience gained from 24 previous dairy trials, that DSM proved the safety and effectiveness of Bovaer.

In this trial, DSM aims to study the interaction between different diets and dosages of Bovaer on the level of methane reduction as key inputs for future use in carbon footprinting tools and associated economic models.

Feed producers Agrifirm, De Heus and ForFarmers said, “We have a big challenge ahead of us in the Netherlands. Within the National Climate Agreement, we have agreed that the agricultural sector will deliver a contribution to making our food production more sustainable. ​

“A part of that commitment is to further reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the agricultural sector. Amongst others by reducing the methane emissions from the cow’s rumination process with practical, economical and animal-friendly solutions. This has the potential to create added value for our dairy products and could contribute to increasing public support for the way we produce our food in the Netherlands. ​

“That is why we – Agrifirm, De Heus and ForFarmers – participate in the experiments that will be run at the Dairy Campus in Leeuwarden in the next months, together with DSM, FrieslandCampina and Wageningen University & Research. These experiments should elucidate to which extend the additive mitigates methane emissions. After this trial, further investigations are required to evaluate the feasibility, business case and technical on-farm application of the product.”​

 [GH1]​Up to you, but as they won’t be ‘joined’ by a walking tour, perhaps change this to ‘and embark on’ … ?