Baladna of Qatar adds white cheese to portfolio
Image: Baladna
Baladna, a Qatar-based dairy and beverage producer, announces that it has added white cheese to its growing product portfolio. The new offering is the first locally produced white cheese in Qatar packaged in aseptic carton packs from SIG.
With this product launch, Baladna and SIG are expanding their partnership. Baladna has installed an additional CFA 312 filling machine to fill products in SIG’s combiblocSlimline carton packs. This filling machine can fill a total of four different volume sizes, and Baladna can also fill juice and dairy products in one-litre carton packs, in addition to the white cheese in 500ml sizes.
A speciality of the process is that soft and spreadable cheese is initially filled into the carton pack as a liquid, which then coagulates inside the carton pack after all the other ingredients have been added. The necessary enzymes are mixed into the liquid cheese in a mobile mixing and dosing unit shortly before the filling process. From this unit the cheese is filled into the carton packs on SIG filling machines. The white cheese, mild in taste and flavour, gains its characteristic firm consistency only after this coagulation process has taken place.
The mobile unit at Baladna is compatible with the filling machine, and this unit is attached to it externally. The filling unit of the SIG machine is not involved in the cheese filling process and can also be used to aseptically fill other dairy products and juices.
Abdelghany Eladib, president and general manager Middle East and Africa at SIG, comments, “Locally produced white cheese in carton packs is a first for the Qatari market. Previously, white cheese was imported from neighbouring countries and mainly available here in plastic packaging. We are very proud to continue our partnership with Baladna with this exciting innovation.”
Malcolm Jordan, CEO of Baladna, said, “Our investment in innovation and close partnership with SIG continues to deliver excellent value for our consumers. We’re proud to offer locally produced white cheese in carton packs to the Qatari market, locally filled for the first time. Offering white cheese in aseptic carton packs means differentiation and is another example of our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, as carton packs are a more sustainable choice.”
Baladna Farms is spread over an area of two million square metres, with a capacity to house 24,000 cows. It now has over 250 SKUs, including fresh milk, yogurt, laban, long-life milk, cheese, labneh, fresh cream, desserts, ghee and juices.