New milk facility in Burley begins production

By Sean Ellis

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

BURLEY – Idaho’s dairy industry has landed a win with a unique milk-processing facility.

Suntado, a 190,000-square-foot facility, began processing Idaho milk at its Burley plant in mid-May.

“As you are here today, it is go time,” Tory Nichols, who works in business development in the office of the CEO of Suntado, told participants of a May 14 tour of the facility.

He said the milk plant is in a “crawl, walk, run mode.”

Suntado, a contract manufacturer in dairy and other beverages, teamed up with Tetra Pak, a global food processing and packaging solutions company, on the project.

The state-of-the-art plant will initially process between 800,000 and 1 million pounds of milk per day.

When the facility is fully built out, it is anticipated that it will able to process between 2-3 million pounds of milk per day, according to Nichols.

The idea for the plant was created in the Jerome airport 37 months ago, Nichols told tour participants.

It is a creation of Idaho dairymen Jesus Hurtado and Dirk Reitsma, who own the facility.

They respectively own 30,000 conventional and 6,000 organic dairy cows within 20 miles of the facility and will be the primary suppliers of milk to their own plant.

Hurtado’s dairy produces almost 2 million pounds of milk per day and Reitsma’s produces almost 400,000 pounds per day.

Idaho ranks No. 3 nationally in total milk production and there are more than 650,000 milk cows in the state.

“We’re excited to see another vertically integrated project come to fruition,” said Idaho Dairymen’s Association Executive Director Rick Naerebout. “To have additional dairy processing in our area is always welcome for our continuously growing industry.”

The Suntado plant is a huge win for Idaho’s dairy industry, said Karianne Fallow, CEO of Dairy West, which represents dairy producers in Idaho and Utah.

“This demonstrates the spirit of innovation that we’re known for here in our region in agriculture and dairy,” she said. “This project is the spirit of that innovation coming to fruition. It defines very well the dairy industry here.”

The new facility will be a processor of Class I and Class 2 milk. Class I is fluid milk and Class 2 includes dairy products such as creamers and heavy whipping cream.

Suntado is teaming up with Tetra Pak to produce a wide variety of aseptic, or shelf-stable, milk products, using both conventional and organic milk.

Many of the products produced there will be packaged in Tetra Pak cartons.

“Shelf-stable products are one of the most exciting ways Tetra Pak is helping to move the beverage industry forward,” said Seth Teply, president and CEO of Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada. “With a longer shelf life and no need to refrigerate until opened, shelf-stable dairy products support the transformation of food systems by increasing access to safe food and reducing food waste.”

The facility, located on 23 acres of land, will produce ultra-pasteurized shelf-stable milk, extended shelf-life milk, and regular pasteurized milk.

It has the ability to produce a wide variety of dairy-based and other beverages.

“We can make a lot of different things,” said Nichols, who added that the plant takes calls from potential new customers every day.

“This vertically integrated facility and our product offerings are completely different than anything out there right now,” he said. “I’m energized by the fact that we’ve built this plant from the ground up, creating a secure, locally sourced milk supply. This facility will offer countless brands the flexibility and scalability they seek ….”

Suntado officials stressed that the facility is not producing its own brand. It will instead enable retailers and national brands to create private-label beverage products.

“Ultimately, there is big demand for shelf-stable milk, milk in new packaging, new flavors of milk, new formulations, and they’re capitalizing on that demand,” Fallow said. “We know American consumers are looking for new and exciting products, and this plant is able to offer that.”

“The U.S. dairy industry has a huge role to play in how to be a part of feeding the world,” Teply said. “And we believe that shelf-stable and its extended shelf-life technologies, like what Suntado is ready to launch here, play a key role in that.

We’re super excited and believe Suntado is at the leading edge of a trend that is going to continue for many years in the industry.”

The beverage market has changed dramatically, said Pedro Goncalves, vice president of marketing for Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada.

“Dairy is still the biggest platform to bring innovation to the marketplace,” he said. “That means we will have more diversification in the industry … We see Suntado as a key player in bringing these types of products to (market).”