General Mills has introduced chilled meals capability to its manufacturing facility in Mount Waverly, Victoria, allowing the company to extend its market-leading Latina brand into single-serve pasta meals and family-sized lasagna and cannelloni products.
The completion of the upgrade was marked with a visit by Minister for Manufacturing, Exports and Trade, The Hon Richard Dalla-Riva MLC and City of Monash Mayor, Cr Micaela Drieberg, who toured the plant on 29 January.
General Mills Australia and New Zealand managing director Markus Muehleisen said the expansion of the Mount Waverley site has created 40 new manufacturing roles.
“The expansion of the Latina brand into the chilled meals category is an exciting growth opportunity for General Mills and has given us the capability to provide fresh Australian-made convenient meal solutions for busy and discerning Australian consumers,” said Muehleisen.
"Against a backdrop of manufacturing decline, we’re proud to be building on our equipment and product capacity.”
The current Latina range comprises chilled pastas and pasta sauces. The Mount Waverley facility has manufactured Latina products for more than 20 years, and the plant has become General Mills’ global R&D network centre of excellence for chilled meals. It is responsible for product development in the Latina, Betty Crocker and Old El Paso brands on a global scale.
“General Mills Australia is proud of the freshness and quality of its Latina chilled products and believes that local manufacturing is an important strategic enabler for the Latina brand,” the company said. “Local manufacture also allows General Mills to take advantage of quality Australian ingredients. The key ingredients used by General Mills in production of chilled pasta meals at Mount Waverley such as meat, dairy and semolina, are all sourced from Australian suppliers.”
General Mills also has a manufacturing site in Rooty Hill, NSW, and employs approximately 400 people nationally.
Left to right: Bill Ward, General Mills plant manager; Cr Micaela Drieberg; Markus Muehleisen, General Mills managing director (back); Richard Dalla Riva, Minister for Manufacturing Exports and Trade.
