The new plant at Hokitika is on track for commissioning in September when trial runs of both spray and freeze dried lactoferrin are scheduled.

With the addition of spray-dried lactoferrin to complement Westland’s freeze-dried lactoferrin range, we will be one of the only lactoferrin manufacturers in the world capable of producing both formats on the one site, a unique advantage for our customers.

The plant will increase our capacity to produce lactoferrin, the minor protein found in milk which is in demand world-wide due to its reported health benefits.

The development is an important milestone for Westpro’s Bioactives strategy. The addition of spray-dried lactoferrin to our range opens up excellent large volume opportunities for us to supply to customers that prefer the finer particle of spray-dried lactoferrin.

 Spray-dried lactoferrin blends very well into formulated powder products and is less visible in the blend than freeze-dried lactoferrin, which some customers prefer.

 Our innovation and technical teams are gearing up to carry out an extensive testing programme on the new products to benchmark how they compare to our current freeze-dried lactoferrin. Our teams also want to ensure we are meeting our customers’ stringent requirements for the new specifications.

Our global customers will receive the first commercial samples before the end of the year so they can complete their evaluation and qualification of the new products. 

The new building is nearly complete, although we need to remove the roof in the next couple of months to install the spray dryer components by crane.