A Pearl Dairy official showcasing the new system
Pearl Dairy Farms Limited (PDFL), Uganda’s largest Dairy processor and the manufacturer of Lato Milk branded products, has unveiled the addition of a new Shs9.25 billion Tetrapak Edge production line to its facility.
The line is the first of its kind in East Africa and will help Pearl Dairy reach out to more customers in Uganda and abroad with a completely new range of UHT milk products that are durable and convenient to use for consumers.
According to Mr. Bijoy Varghese, General Manager at Pearl Dairy, the new line from TetraPak aseptically packages the product, which means the milk is packed in a sterile environment which maintains the freshness of the product while ensuring no bacteria or other micro-organisms contaminate the product hence giving the product a duration period/ shelf-life of 12 months without refrigeration and about 7 to ten days after opening when continuously refrigerated. This means product can travel beyond East African Region.
“The new Tetrapak 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.
Bijoy added; “One of the biggest myths that is still believed by many consumers is that, long life milk has preservatives or additives. This is completely untrue as the long life for the product is a result of carefully treating the milk during the production processes in state-of-the-art machinery and packaging it a highly sterile environment with high quality packaging materials. One of the key USPs for the product will be that it will come with an unbelievable shelf life of 12 months and too without the need for refrigeration! When continuously refrigerated, Lato milk packaged with Tetra Pak technology lasts for about seven to 10 days after opening.”
With a capacity of over 800,000 litres of milk a day Pearl Dairy produces 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 under the familiar name of “Lato Milk”, a brand that is well known and equally loved by Ugandans. The Ugandan company recently announced its expansion into Ethiopia, Malawi and South Sudan.
Sweden-based Tetra Pak is currently the largest food packaging company in the world by sales, operating in more than 160 countries. Following a long and successful history of working together, Tetra Pak and Pearl Dairy have embarked on this unique and promising partnership to produce high quality long life milk for its consumers. The installation of this latest equipment was part of the company’s expansion plans in order to provide its consumers with the quality nutrition that is easy on the pocket.
Commenting on the impact the new packaging line will have on pearl dairy and Uganda’s dairy sector at larger, Bijoy said; “It gives a smart, innovative and a fresh new look from the familiar and well-loved packaging that Lato Milk provides. Along with the freshness it will also offer a new environmentally sound packaging solution for customers with an opening for packaging materials components derived from sugarcane. The partnership will also mean that the company will continue to invest in its Diary Extensi0n program that it runs in Uganda to support the local Dairy farmers by providing several activities that are intended to train them on best practices in dairy management, focusing on productivity and milk quality improvement.”
