Dairy firm to produce top-of-line ice cream
NEW tropical-inspired organic ice cream is expected to hit Far Northern supermarket shelves as a new increased capacity processing plant on the Atherton Tablelands comes on line.
The Mungalli Creek Dairy plant at Millaa Millaa is also expected to double milk production and employ 20 additional staff.
Using cutting edge technology, solar panels will be used to chill large volumes of water which will act as a “water battery” to be pumped around the plant and keep products cold.
Mungalli marketing manager Michelle Bell-Turner said for the moment the focus would be on marketing the new product range locally and on the Australian east coast.
“(However) we are close to Asian export markets so there is an opportunity there and this new facility does give us that opportunity,” she said.
“If we were to look at anything we would look at Japan and Singapore to start with.”
A $10 million regional export hub slated for completion at the Cairns Airport in 2021 was expected to assist in tapping lucrative Asian markets, Ms Bell-Turner said.
Brand development and tasting of the new tropical-inspired ice cream line is under way and expected to hit the shelves early next year.
“We are working on packaging as we speak. We are going to use local where we can including vanilla from Broken Nose and local banana, mango and passion fruit,” she said.
“Our ice cream will be full fat and made with whole milk, eggs and a really high quality cream to create a premium ice cream.”
In the new year the company will employ a cheese maker and expand the current range of cheese lines.
Mungalli Creek chief executive Rob Watson said the success of the company in an industry teetering on the brink of collapse relied on tapping a very different market.
“People are looking for something that is both local and healthy,” he said.
“We found North Queensland tastes were into that 20 years ago and since than it has taken off.”
The new processing plant including the new ice cream area is expected to be fully operational by March 2020.