Arla UK, the British subsidiary of Danish dairy giant Arla Foods, has opened a £150m fresh milk processing facility in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

The company claims this is the largest facility of its kind in the world and has the capacity to process 240,000 litres of milk an hour, or one billion litres a year.

In total, the Danish co-op processes 3.5 billion litres of British milk every year, making Arla the largest dairy company in the UK with leading brands such as Anchor, Cravendale and Lurpak.

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Around 2,800 British farmers supply milk to Arla UK, which had a turnover of £2.2bn in 2013. The group is the number one supplier of liquid milk, butter, spreads and cream to the UK market and is also the largest manufacturer of cheese in Britain.

The new facility in Aylesbury will employ 700 people and is the single largest investment in Arla’s history.