Page 30 - Food&Drink Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

DAIRY PROCESSING
RIGHT: Procal’s flagship product is its award winning Greek yoghurt.
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RISE & SHINE
CAFÉ LATTE
Procal supplies milk to some smaller IGAs and Costco stores, but most of its customers are in food service, with about 90 per cent of Procal’s milk ending up in coffee.
General supermarket milk varies too much in quality and consistency for this industry, says Thyssen. “A barista needs a consistent milk so they can work it in a particular way, with very predictable frothability.”
It is for this reason that Procal’s processing equipment is highly automated as this eliminates human error, and also reduces the amount of shear put on the product.
“To achieve this, all manufacturing valving is automated through a centralised computer system to move the milk smoothly through the process, keeping the fat cells intact, so it is as natural as possible when it goes into bottles,” Thyssen says.
“As a result we can produce a very high-quality product, with a big emphasis on freshness and getting milk from farm to bottle as quickly as possible.”
The manufacturer also makes set and stirred yoghurt, with its Greek yoghurt the company’s
flagship product.
“With yoghurt we have to be
even more careful with processing, because one of the areas we sell on is texture and mouthfeel,” Thyssen says.
“The things we concentrate on first and foremost are texture, mouthfeel and consistency.
“Once we get these right, we then make sure we get the flavour profile right, because
introducing advanced blow moulding technology,” Thyssen says.
“So, rather than transporting blown bottles full of air from a manufacturer, we’re now bringing in plastic granules that are much more efficient
to ship.”
All plastic wrap coming
into the facility is compacted and put into a form that
can be recycled.
GROWTH STORY
Procal Dairies is an independent dairy manufacturing and distribution company owned by the Thyssen family.
Chief executive Adam Thyssen and his father Nick established the business in 2003 shortly after selling their juice manufacturing business, The Original Juice Co, to Golden Circle.
They initially forged a contract packing deal with dairy giant Murray Goulburn to produce Procal branded milk in Victoria. The venture proved a success and in 2008 Procal built a new, modern facility with some of the most advanced fresh dairy processing technology available. Procal began producing its own range of products – including white milk, cream and its award-winning Greek yoghurt.
In 2006, Procal extended its operations to New South Wales, where it set up a depot for distribution to the Sydney market.
In 2017 the company manufactured 48 million litres of milk and 1.65 million litres of yoghurt.
“ We have also thought a lot about how our products get from A to B with the least amount of lost product. So when we’re designing a new line, we are thinking of how to reduce product loss through the whole system.”
for us it is about the entire eating experience, not just about offering a quality cultured product.”
BLOW BY BLOW
Sustainable manufacturing is another area where the company has been pushing the envelope.
“One of the first things
we did when our volumes reached a certain level was to produce our own bottles by
“This has allowed us to reduce our contribution to landfill to a single skip per week, which is a lot less than most factories of our size,” he adds.
“We have also thought a lot about how our products get from A to B with the least amount of lost product.
“So when we’re designing a new line, we are thinking of how to reduce product loss through the whole system.” ✷
30 | Food&Drink business | January-February 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au