Danone is to invest €70m (£59.6m) into its Steenvoorde, France factory to supercharge production of its medical nutrition products.
The majority of the investment – €60m (£51.1m) – will be spent on installing a new medical nutrition production line. Once operational, the line will produce nearly 30 recipes of Danone’s oral nutritional supplement for patients under its specialised nutrition range Nutricia.
Following the investment, the site is projected to deliver almost 20 million litres of medical nutrition per year, which will help “drive better outcomes and quality of life for patients who suffer from disease-related malnutrition, such as in cancer”, said Danone.
In addition to the new line, Danone will also be investing €10m (£8.5m) into new infrastructure at the 110-year-old site, including a biomass boiler. The boiler’s installation will reduce the carbon footprint of the site by almost 70%, according to Danone.
The site currently focuses on producing Danone’s specialised nutrition ranges for early life, including its Gallia and Blédina brands.To prepare for the new production line on medical nutrition, the 430 employees will take part in reskilling and upskilling programmes.
The move responded to increased demand for Danone’s medical nutrition products, due to an aging population and a rise in chronic conditions.
“Nutritional needs change as people grow, age and face health challenges, and at Danone, we believe we have a responsibility to help generations live as healthily as possible,” said Danone CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique.
“We are continually innovating, investing and utilising our 125 years of expertise to develop products that are adapted to the growing nutritional needs of millions of patients around the world.”
It follows Danone’s acquisition of US-based tube feeding business Functional Formularies in May, and the installation of new production lines in its Lüleburgaz, Turkey and Opole, Poland sites last year.
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