Britannia Bel Foods inaugurates Cheese factory in Maharashtra to empower local milk farmers
The plant is fully integrated with a robust milk procurement program, sourcing 4 lakh litres of cow milk daily from over 3,000 farmers in Pune and surrounding areas.
Britannia Bel Foods, a leading Cheese player in India, marked a significant milestone in its growth, nearly two years after being established as an ambitious joint venture. The company announced the inauguration of its Cheese factory in India, dedicated to the local production of Britannia the Laughing Cow products, reinforcing its commitment to serving the best quality products to Indian consumers made locally. Maharashtra is a leading state in India for milk production and boasts of a mature well integrated dairy ecosystem, making it the ideal choice for the Cheese factory location within Britannia’s Dairy food park in Ranjangaon.
Support to local milk farmers and a robust milk procurement program
The plant is fully integrated with a robust milk procurement program, sourcing 4 lakh liters of 100% cow’s milk daily from over 3,000 farmers in Pune and surrounding areas. Britannia has scaled up the milk procurement program within a few years to 70 Village-Level Bulk Milk Coolers installed within a 100 km radius from the factory, spanning 10 tehsils in the Pune and near districts. This initiative supports local farmers, ensures a sustainable supply chain, and reinforces Britannia’s commitment to community and agricultural development. Britannia’s Milk Collection Centers have advanced testing capabilities, ensuring that raw milk quality is assessed across 31 quality parameters at site and 20 additional parameters at unloading before being accepted at the factory.
To support the local community of its 3,000+ milk farmers, Britannia operates an integrated support program focused on three pillars of management, breeding and feeding of cattle. The program encapsulates enabling best farm practices such as door-to-door animal health camps, farmer training & breed training programmes, quality fodder seeds distribution and a transparent direct payment service to the farmer. The farmer program is integrated with Britannia’s village development and malnourishment programmes under the efforts of Sir Ness Wadia Foundation and Britannia Nutrition Foundation.
A new factory with state-of-the-art facilities
With an investment of nearly 220 crores (around €23.9 millions) from the Joint Venture including the Britannia Dairy facilities being leveraged, the new Greenfield factory is located in one of Maharashtra’s largest food parks. It is integrated within Britannia’s state-of-the-art dairy production facility, which produces a comprehensive range of Britannia dairy products including now Britannia the Laughing Cow Cheese with a full range of products: slices, blocks, spread, diced and cubes.
Equipped with 5 production lines, the facility boasts a total production capacity of approximately 6,000 tons per year for natural Cheese varieties like cheddar and mozzarella, and around 10,000 tons per year for processed Cheese.
The establishment of this factory is creating numerous job opportunities, significantly boosting local employment and contributing to the region’s economic growth. Over the past few years, the Maharashtra state government has extended immense support for the Britannia Mega Food Factory at Ranjangaon recognizing it as an Ultra Mega project and providing Britannia with a customized incentive package. This has enabled facilities for manufacturing the entire product range of Britannia across biscuits, cake, rusk, croissant, salted snacks, wafers, dairy drinks & powders & Cheese. Further, the seamless approval cadence of the state government for plans, licenses, infrastructure, development, power and several other factors have greatly benefited this strategic investment.
The plant is fully integrated with a