Kerrygold butter owner Ornua has completed a €40m new development at its Kerrygold Park facility in Mitchelstown Co Cork.
The development allows the company that manufactures the iconic Irish butter brand to increase production to 1 million retail packs per day or 80,000 tonnes of butter per year.
Kerrygold, which is sold in 110 countries around the world, is now the number two butter brand in the USA.
Ornua hopes the latest expansion in Mitchelstown will help its growth towards becoming Irelands first €2 billion food brand.
The investment has resulted in the creation of 30 new jobs, bringing total employment at the Kerrygold Park site to 180.
Kerrygold Park is one of the worlds leading butter packing facilities with two industrial churns, 10 packing lines and on site chilled storage for 3000 pallets.
The new development at the Mitchelstown facility is being officially opened by Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney.
They are being joined by Enterprise Ireland Executive Director, Jenny Melia, and Ornua Co-operative Chair, Aidan O'Driscoll, who said they are proud of the international success of the Kerrygold brand.
"For the past 60 years, Kerrygold has proudly brought the unique taste of Irish grass-fed dairy to the world on behalf of Ornua's Member Co-operatives and the 14,000 dairy families they represent," they said.
"We are collectively proud of the success the brand has achieved internationally including in major markets such as the US where Kerrygold is the second largest butter brand."
