NSW food and beverage makers get gov funding boost

NSW Riverina food and beverage makers have had a funding injection from the Minns state government to upgrade their facilities.

Australian Juice Processing and Bottling has received $2.5 million for a new state-of-the-art bottling line at its Leeton Juice Factory.

The new line will feature automated and continuous operation, including heating and blow moulding of containers, filling, capping, and labelling processes.

These upgrades will help increase the factory’s output to up to 100,000 containers an hour.

The Leeton Juice Factory was acquired by Grove Juice this time last year from the Bega Group.

Pet food maker Staughton Group also received $2.27 million to build a regional demonstration hub for inline chilling and freezing to help accelerate regional food processing technological development.

In a statement, the NSW government said the “project will deliver new technologies to upgrade chilling and freezing infrastructure for regional food processors and provide equipment and services to regional NSW abattoirs and food manufacturers”.

It added that the “new technologies will help make food manufacturing more sustainable and profitable”.

Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Regional NSW Tara Moriarty said these investments are part of a massive boost for the state’s Riverina region.

“Investments that embed new technology into the Riverina’s local food processing businesses will bring productivity gains and expand production capacity, to ensure we can grow jobs and feed Australians and the world,”