Pure Dairy opens $100m Dandenong South processing plant
A mammoth new dairy facility in Melbourne's southeast has officially opened. What will it mean for dairy farmers?
About 90 per cent of produce processed at a new Melbourne dairy development is sourced from Australia, Pure Dairy says, following import influx concerns from farmer lobby leaders.
Victorian Industry Minister Colin Brooks officially opened Pure Dairy’s estimated $100m processing site at Dandenong South on Thursday, the first permanent processing facility operated by the business.
Representatives from major fast food chains Subway and Guzman y Gomez took part in the official opening of the plant, which has been criticised by Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett and United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Bernie Free over import and packaging concerns.
Pure Dairy executive chairman Adrian Josephson said while roughly 90 per cent of dairy produce currently processed at the Dandenong site was Australian, the domestic/import ratio was subject to economic and seasonal factors.
He said Pure Dairy had previously used third party operators to process cheese and other dairy produce — using material from Australian-based factories as well as product sourced from abroad.
“If I went down to our warehouse floor with you now, I’d say 90 per cent of the product in there’s from Australia,” Mr Josephson said.
“But there might be suppliers that come to us and say: Hey Adrian, Australian cheese is priced at X, New Zealand cheese (is priced at X) — I’m looking at the GDT — Fonterra is selling cheese at a cheaper price.
“People might bring in New Zealand (cheese) and come to this facility and say, Pure Dairy, will you shred cheese for us? Will you slice cheese for us?’
Both Mr Bennett and Mr Free have raised concerns over Pure Dairy’s capacity to finalise the manufacturing process of New Zealand or American cheese and label the produce as “Made in Australia from imported ingredients”.
In May, Mr Bennett raised concerns that a spate of factory closures — such as Bega’s Strathmerton facility — were an indirect economic result of Pure’s expansion.
Mr Josephson said Australia already had strict food labelling laws to ensure shoppers knew the country-of-origin of cheese or any other dairy product.
He noted the vast majority of produce manufactured at the new Dandenong site for Australian consumption would be channelled towards hospitality, including fast food and restaurants.
“We’re 5 per cent retail, our past decade has been predominantly food service,” he said.
“(My invitation to dairy lobby leaders is) come out and see us — come and have a look what we’ve invested in Australia. We’re not bringing in cheap ingredients to bring down the Australian dairy industry.”
