Mid North Coast Food Manufacturing

Mid North Coast Food Manufacturing

Food and Beverage Manufacturing is the largest sub sector of our region’s Manufacturing industry. Add in the Agriculture & Fishing sector, of a comparable size, and it’s clear the food industry is a crucial one for the Mid North Coast.

Food and Beverage Manufacturing has a particularly large flow on effect for the regional economy and for local jobs. Every time a new job is created in Food and Beverage Manufacturing, an additional 2 jobs are spawned in other industries.

Wingham Beef Exports have been processing prime quality beef since 1995, when Japanese company, Nippon Ham Foods, purchased the processing sites at Wingham and Macksville.
With almost 400 workers engaged across the two sites, Wingham Beef Exports is an important part of the local economy.

The Raleigh milk factory near Bellingen is one of two milk factories run by Norco. The factory is dedicated to making dairy based products such as the range of Norco branded white milks, flavoured milks, cream, sour cream and custard. The factory produces 41 million litres of bottled milk every year.

Saxbys is Australia’s oldest family-owned soft drink manufacturer. Saxbys produces its own brands of traditional flavours as well as contract packing for others. In recent years they have added some new styles such as ginger lime and bitters, ginger and pineapple, ginger and cranberry, and fun seasonal styles like toffee apple, snazzberry and grape.

The Nestlé factory at Smithtown still produces the MILO we drink in Australia, as well as exporting to New Zealand. The Smithtown factory also produces a range of other popular Nestlé products, most recently the new NESCAFÉ Café Menu range. Around half of the raw materials used at the factory are still sourced locally, including barley, rice, sugar and milk powder.