Improved cheese-making technology will increase the amount of cheese made from every pound of milk processed at Associated Milk Producers Inc.’s (AMPI) Sanborn, Iowa, plant.

Sanborn plant employees are now making cheese using eight new vats located in an expanded facility.

“This investment makes it possible for a talented team to make even more sought-after AMPI cheese,” said AMPI Vice President of Technical Services Wayne Jorgensen

The varieties of cheese produced will grow to include Monterey Jack, Colby and Marble Jack.   

The expanded facility features increased automation to boost efficiencies. Upgrades to the plant’s whey processing and storage area are expected to wrap up in March. Once completed, the plant’s processing capacity will more than double, and daily cheese production will tally about 300,000 pounds.   

The AMPI Sanborn team made history in 2016, earning first place Mild Cheddar honors in the World Dairy Expo Championship Cheese Contest for the third consecutive year. The Sanborn cheesemakers produce blocks of Cheddar cheese weighing nearly 700 pounds — known in the industry as 640s — which are then sold to customers and packaged as cubes, slices, shreds, bars or snack sticks.

“The cooperative’s new business plan is focused on updating cheese-making technology and increasing capacity,” said Steve Schlangen, an Albany, Minn., dairy farmer and chairman of the AMPI Board of Directors. “The Sanborn project marks an important first step in seeing that plan come to life. It cements our place in the community as a long-term employer and provides the capacity to process the milk produced on area member farms.”

Source: AMPI