LACTINA - A Good Example from the Food Industry

"Our production Equipment Complies with the Strictest European Requirements", Lactina representatives say

For enterprises in the field of food and beverage industry compliance with the sanitary norms active in the European Union is rather a matter of survival than one of development. Like the whole production sector in Bulgaria, this branch is also paying a dear price to comply with the strict European rules and norms in the field. It is a well-known fact that throughout the years of transition many of the production facilities already built remained in history. Fortunately, a part of the know how accumulated was preserved thanks to enterprising representatives of the branch who established and managed to "turn the wheels" of successful companies. On the other hand, conformity with European criteria should assist the business of those companies that manufacture and supply equipment and perform installation and engineering services in the field of the food industry.
The answer to the question of whether this is so and to what extent remains unclear. The current article of South-East European INDUSTRIAL Market  magazine will focus your attention not on one of the numerous examples of an old enterprise ruined but rather on a new manufacturer in the field - Bulgarian company Lactina.

About Lactina
The company manufactures active substances, starter cultures (yoghurt starters) and other biologically valuable products based on milk. The official start of manufacture was in 2003. The bioproducts are divided into four categories:
•probiotics and prebiotics. They include strains of sour milk bacteria specially selected according to their functional characteristics. The Lactobacillus bulgaricus has a special place among all sour milk bacteria.
•starter cultures. Lactina is a manufacturer of a set of brands with geographical importance for the dairy industry.
•probiotic supplements to fodder for application in industrial cattle-breeding and
•monocultures - different micro organisms added to food.

90% of the company production is for export
Lactina Director - Engineer Georgi Georgiev - personally assured us that 90% of the company production is for export. "We  sell our products in more than 30 countries all over the world. Russia is our biggest customer. We also work actively with the Ukraine, Belarus, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. Currently we are working hard on the implementation of a large-scale project in China for the export of starter cultures", comments Mr. Georgiev. "We also have a permit to export our production in EU member-states. To our enormous regret, a very small portion of our products are sold at the domestic market. In order to ensure the high quality of the products manufactured we were forced not to use Bulgarian raw materials ", he adds.
Technological equipment
"When purchasing our technological and power-up equipment we had the ambition to buy the best of what the market had to offer. It may sound a bit immodest but I personally have no information as to any other manufacturer throughout the whole world producing similar products in a more high-tech manner than our own. For example, the ferment system is manufactured by the leading French company 3N. The system was delivered and commissioned by their partner for Bulgaria - the Astel company - a company with which we have good partnership relations based on mutual trust. Currently again Astel experts take care of the maintenance of the facilities", said the company director.
"The lyophilization line is again one of the best in terms of reliability and productivity. The processes in the factory are highly automated. Owing to the technological parameter control, as well as to the fermentation and lyophilization processes we are able to guarantee the high quality of our products in compliance with IANN? requirements", commented the factory director.
In conclusion Mr. Georgiev assured us that a new pellet making line awaits commissioning in the near future and even that the production equipment for the line has already been delivered.