A new spray drying facility is open for business at Waikato's Innovation Park, with companies lined up to process food products ranging from goats' milk powder to fruit and vegetable extracts.
The $11 million processing and packaging facility has been set up with government support as part of the New Zealand Food Innovation Network.
It was officially opened on Tuesday after being commissioned and tested last month.
Chief executive Derek Fairweather says the park's half-tonne per hour processing capacity is small by commercial standards, but is designed for companies wanting to develop food products for new export markets.
The Dairy Goat Co-operative is first to use it, to make infant formulas.
But Mr Fairweather says the drier can process a wide range of food products - fruits, vegetables, fish oils, coffee and "all sorts of products".
"We've got quite a list of products that need a bit of help to get them commercialised and export ready, so they can test and develop new export markets."
