Cream cheese delight from Korumburra to Asia

SOARING demand for cream cheese in Asia drove Burra Foods’ initiative to establish a production plant for the product, with the facility now producing between 15 and 20 tonnes of delicious and versatile cream cheese per day.

The impressive modern plant, housed in a revamped old building, took approximately 12 months to build, with that process beginning in November 2021.

There was a commitment to using local businesses, a philosophy Burra Foods subscribes to whenever possible.

Leongatha company, C & L Stainless did all the mechanical installation, with another local business GDR Electrical Services handling the electrical installation, while world-renowned dairy company GEA provided a lot of the equipment and expertise.

Commissioning of the new facility took place throughout November and December last year, with production beginning to be ramped up from mid to late January this year.

The businesses’ marketing manager Lauren Hamilton said the process of building the plant and getting it into operation was impressively quick.

Production manager Matt Murnane was the project manager for the plant, involved in the building and commissioning processes.

He outlined the stringent requirements to bring the cream cheese plant into service, saying that included flushing, washing and getting it approved by Dairy Food Safety Victoria to run product for sale.
From there it was a case of “gradually ramping up production volumes to make customer samples,” Matt said.

The facility is split into two parts.

“There’s the critical hygiene area in which we make the cream cheese, where we ferment the milk and then separate the curd and the whey,” Matt said.

The second part involves the cream cheese being put into bags, which are packed into boxes and transferred to the cool room.

Lauren elaborated on the spike in demand for cream cheese in Asia.

“There’s a huge demand in Southeast Asia and Asia for cream cheese products now because of the growing café culture,” she said.

That includes use in elaborate drink toppings, including for bubble teas, as well as helping meet the growing popularity of cheesecakes.

She said the dramatic market transformation has occurred over the past two or three years.

Lauren elaborated that French-style patisseries have become increasingly popular in China.

“The customer base is predominantly China, Japan and then parts of Southeast Asia,” she said.

“There is real demand for the taste of our dairy products in China.” 

While the focus so far has been mainly on establishing export markets, Matt said samples have recently been provided to the local market, with a local customer in the food service industry currently trialling Burra’s cream cheese.

Early in the trialling phase, just prior to last Christmas, around 400 kilos of the product were airfreighted to China, with a comparable delivery to Japan.

Lauren said potential customers trial the product in a range of applications, with orders flowing from there.

Having savoured a cream cheese sample fresh off the production line, this scribe is happy to endorse the product.