Himalaya set to start commercial production of cheese

Himalaya International Ltd, pioneer in the exports of IQF mushrooms and vegetables, is all set to start commercial production on its newly set up speciality cheese plant in Himachal Pradesh by the third week of this month.

Set up at a cost of $ 2.5 million, the plant is the first of its kind in India. The company will be producing 15 million pounds annually of 'Mozzarella' cheese. It estimates to use 100,000 litres of pure buffalo milk per day for the purpose.

The company has imported plant and machinery from the US-based Winnona Foods Inc. Himalaya has tied up with Winnona for supplying it entire cheese production.

"It's a 100 per cent export oriented unit (EOU). We will be supplying our total product to Winnona," said Manmohan Malik, chairman and CEO.

Himalaya is projecting a greenfield expansion plan in its cheese unit in the next 2-3 years, which would increase the capacity by 10 times.