Lactalis Canada reopens Sudbury plant as plant-based milk facility

The Sudbury site, which had operated as a liquid milk processing plant for 60 years, was shut down in 2022. Lactalis Canada had announced plans to convert the facility into a 33,150 sq. ft plant for the production of plant-based beverages, citing a “long-term volume decline” in fluid milk that impacted the profitability and sustainability of the plant. The revamped facility will now produce Lactalis Canada's new plant-based milk brand, Enjoy!, launched in May. The milk alternatives, which are unsweetened and high in protein, come in six varieties: Oat, Oat Vanilla, Almond, Almond Vanilla, Hazelnut, and Hazelnut & Oat.

The reopening was celebrated on June 28 with an event attended by company executives, government officials, and community partners, featuring a tree-planting ceremony and an employee celebration. Notably, jobs were preserved during the conversion, and the facility continues to employ the same number of people as before.

“We are constantly following the consumer”

Lactalis Canada is not alone in this shift; earlier this year, Danone converted one of its dairy yogurt plants in France to produce oat milk, aiming to expand its plant-based business and meet sustainability goals. Mark Taylor, President and CEO of Lactalis Canada, emphasized the company's commitment to innovation and consumer demand.

“While our core business is dairy, as an innovation leader and as demonstrated by our forthcoming expansion into plant-based, we are constantly following the consumer and continually seeking opportunities to innovate and respond to the market,” Taylor said in 2022. “Our purpose is to enrich and nurture the lives of Canadians, and this holds the same for our new offering, which will provide consumers with complementary high-quality plant-based products that will benefit from our current capacity and capabilities as well as our rich and long-standing dairy expertise.”

Photo by Lactalis Canada