It would replace one that’s more than 100 years old and was
part of Parmalat’s purchase of Beatrice Foods in 1997.
It might have happened sooner had not the parent company in Italy gone into bankruptcy in the midst of a huge scandal involving the owners. The Canadian managers were diligent and protected by a hands-off approach from the Italians.
Manitoba is short of milk-processing capacity and so milk is
being shipped west.
Some milk from those western destinations is, in turn, being
shipped as far as British Columbia.
It will cost Winnipeg about $8.2 million to provide services
to the site which it is selling for $2.59 million. The site was previously
bought for an OlyWest hog-packing plant that was never built.
An increase in processing capacity in
Manitoba “will strengthen the provincial economy and bring good jobs to our province,”
said Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn.
