As part of a Philippines Food for Progress project, Land O’Lakes is providing technical assistance and management support for dairy processing equipment to its partner Lanao Foundation Inc (LFI). In the Philippine Mindanao region since May 2007, the project is building the capacity for LFI’s dairy farming and processing operations. Before getting the support from Land O’Lakes, the processing plant of LFI had a manual milk pouch filling operation that often resulted in unhygienic and unsafe milk packages. In addition, the production capacity for filling milk pouches was severely restricted because of the manual operations, and the plant could only produce a maximum of 300 liters of pasteurized milk in 200-ml pouches per day.

In August 2007, Land O’Lakes, along with the management of LFI, installed two automatic fill-and-seal machines for the filling and packing of fresh pasteurized milk without any manual operation. The machines increased the production capacity to a maximum of 17,280 liters of milk in safe, hygienic 200-ml pouches per day with two shifts operating. This capacity enhancement allowed LFI to get a milk supply contract awarded by the provincial government of Lanao Del Norte in October 2007 to feed 1,800 preschool kids for 120 days. But only the rural areas near the processing plant could receive the milk because the fresh pasteurized milk pouches have a short shelf life of two to three days with refrigeration.

In order to further build its capacity and produce longer shelf-life milk to serve wider markets, LFI and Land O'Lakes planned for the installation of a water retort processing and sterilized milk filling line to produce 200-ml stand-up pouch Doy packs. The installation of this equipment at the LFI dairy processing plant was successlly completed by Land O'Lakes and its local suppliers in January 2008. This has added the capacity of processing and filling 8,640 liters of sterilized milk per day in 200-ml stand-up Doy pack pouches, hygienically produced, with a shelf life of six months without refrigeration. This allows the product to be shipped to longer distances to capture regional and national markets.

The LFI plant received certification from the Philippines Bureau of Food and Drugs and the license to operate and produce safe and hygienic milk. A Land O'Lakes processing specialist based at the LFI plant has led the effort to secure BFAD certification for the plant.

LFI was recently awarded a $4 million school milk feeding supply contract funded by the office of the President of the Philippines to provide milk for 70,000 elementary school students in Lanao del Norte province and the neighboring Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao for the entire school year starting June 2008. This will allow LFI to fully utilize the milk processing and filling lines installed with the support of funding provided by this USDA Food for Progress project.

Following are comments from beneficiaries: 

Elmer Sayre, Chairman and CEO Lanao Foundation Inc, Lanao Del Norte Province, Philippines: “We are grateful for all the support provided by Land O’Lakes through its USDA-funded Food for Progress project in helping us to build our dairy processing capacities. From our small manual milk filling operations in early 2007, LFI has now become an established supplier of pasteurized and long-life sterilized milk for school feeding programs with Land O’Lakes support. Our plans include expanding our dairy products supply to local, regional, national and exports channels in the future.”

Abdullah Dimaporo – Congressman 2nd District, Lanao Del Norte Province, Mindanao Region, Philippines: “Lanao Foundation’s dairy farming and processing project is helping to create rural livelihoods as well as improving the nutrition of elementary school students in Lanao Del Norte province and in Mindanao region that badly needs social and economic development for its growth and peace building. Land O’Lakes has proven to be a valuable partner in these efforts. We appreciate all the support provided by Land O’Lakes through its USDA-funded Food for Progress project.”