Beston Global Food has completed the expansion of its lactoferrin plant in Jervois, South Australia, which will provide the company with the capacity to produce around five per cent of the world’s current demand for lactoferrin.
Two new lactoferrin extraction columns were installed at the site in March, with Beston receiving a $2 million grant through the South Australian Government’s Regional Growth Fund last December for the expansion.
The new extraction columns produced 100 per cent of Beston’s milk supply into high quality concentrate over the month of May, and in addition to its operations, the installation of a new freeze dryer to further increase the capacity to dry the concentrate ready for milling and packaging for sale.
Beston Global Food acting CEO Darren Flew said the competition of the project was another major milestone for the company.
“As we advised in April, the second phase of commission activities focused on further refinements to the extraction process to optimize the lactoferrin yield for the actual composition of the milk being received,” said Flew.
“This has in effect been a calibration of the process to maximise the amount of >95 per cent purity lactoferrin that can be extracted from the skim milk feed to the extraction columns.”
The dairy operations at Beston’s Jervois site now has the capability to produce up to 25T per annum of the >95 per cent purity lactoferrin from 180ml per annum of raw milk supply.
As part of the project, the company has also invested in its own lactoferrin testing capabilities to allow staff to conduct daily analyses, led by Dr Sinuo Tan.
“With the testing capability in-house, the Jervois team will be better able to monitor ongoing production performance to ensure we continually meet quality specifications while maximising yields as milk composition changes through the seasons,” the company said.
Beston has also established the Bioactive brand for its new lactoferrin products to be sold, including Mediferrin and Trueferrin branded products.
The plant will have its official opening on 30 July, with South Australian premier Stephen Marshall opening the site.
