Major dairy co-operative Agropur is putting up eight figures to upgrade an ice cream and frozen novelties plant it owns in Nova Scotia to handle new premium product lines.
The co-operative said June 17 it will invest $34 million in the former Scotsburn plant at Truro, to “redefine the space within the plant (and) support the development of several business opportunities for Agropur, especially in a growing market.”
Specifically, the capital investment will go to “allow the creation of a new extrusion line for value-added innovation in the premium novelties segment.”
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The Truro plant will then become one of Agropur’s “centres of excellence for extrusion-type frozen products,” the co-op said.
In the frozen novelties business, extrusion is used to produce various figures or shapes, which can then retain those forms during later handling and further-processing.
Jeannie van Dyk, the Agropur board’s vice-president, described the move as “the largest plant capital investments made in Canada for the last five years,” adding it “confirms the importance of the Atlantic region for Agropur and our commitment to remain a major player in the region and to pursue the opportunities it presents.”
“The Truro ice cream plant is known for its expertise in dairy processing and the production of frozen treats, and we are very pleased to be able to innovate in this area. Several new projects will be possible because of this investment,” Dominique Benoit, Agropur’s senior vice-president for institutional affairs, said in the same release.
Agropur’s plans to invest in new frozen dairy products for Canada follow an announcement in April from the Canadian arm of food processor Unilever, with similar plans to expand the frozen dessert portfolio it produces at Simcoe, Ont.
Other companies, however, such as French yogurt maker Danone, have recently said they plan to pare back the number of varieties available in their product lines.
The ice cream plant at Truro came to Agropur in 2017, when it bought Scotsburn Co-operative Services — a deal which also included a frozen desserts plant at Lachute, Que. Agropur closed the Lachute plant in 2020 and shifted that site’s work to its other facilities. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
