GII, Ireland’s leading dairy ingredients company, is currently investing €200 million in value adding facilities with support from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland. This investment program, one of the largest ever undertaken by an indigenous company, will facilitate farmers and customers in expanding their businesses, particularly as the elimination of quotas in 2015 provides dairy farmers with an opportunity to expand production for the first time in 30 years. Over €7.8 million has been invested in the Virginia plant to build the new milk protein unit, which will more than double current milk protein capacity from 4,000 to 10,000 tons. It is a significant boost for the Virginia facility which will also continue its extensive production of enriched milk powders for export markets as well as exclusive cream supply to the global Baileys brand.
 
Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland said, “This is a hugely significant and very welcome development for GII and the region. Enterprise Ireland has worked closely with the company in this current major expansionary phase and looks forward to continuing to support GII and the industry, which forms a vital part of the Irish economy”.
 
GII first launched its range of advanced milk protein powders under the Solmiko brand in 2008 and has since had much success with their application in the clinical nutrition and sports nutrition industries, making it one of the leading suppliers of milk proteins globally. These industries are worth €16 billion and are currently growing at greater than 6% per annum. The new SolmikoHD and SolagoHD variants have higher bulk density and good dispersibility making them easily incorporated into customer formulations using existing processing equipment.
 
The new facility in Virginia reinforces GII’s credentials on sustainability and conservation, and uses additional membrane technology that polishes and removes all remaining solids from the water extracted from the process, making it re-usable so no additional water is required for the new plant.