Dutch dairy processor Friesland Campina has opened a new manufacturing facility in the Netherlands to produce base products for its range of infant formula products.
The new manufacturing facility, which will be based in Borculo, will produce galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), a prebiotic ingredient used to make infant formula.
Oligosaccharides are an important component of human milk and not found in cow's milk.
Friesland, which developed the GOS ingredient, estimates that products with it as ingredient have been consumed by more than 100 million children around the world in the last 15 years, Irish Farmers Journal reported.
Even as the dairy market is witnessing a dip in the recent past, the company is bolstering its production to meet the global demand for this ingredient.
The company has stated that it has saw a volume growth of almost 16% in the first half of 2016. This has come despite witnessing a low demand from crucial markets such as Asia.
Friesland expects that demand for infant formula in Asian markets will continue to grow. Over the past one year, import of dairy products have come down in China, which in turn has hit the global dairy market significantly, the publication reported.
Image: Infant formula manufacturing facility opened at Netherlands. Photo: Courtesy of Jomphong/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
