Canterbury dairy company Synlait Milk has the official clearance it needs to start using its new dry blending and consumer packaging plant.
It has one more hurdle to jump, and that is being registered to export finished infant formula to the biggest market, China.
Nevertheless, Synlait Managing Director Dr John Penno said getting Ministry for Primary Industries approval of the Risk Management Programme for the $28 million packaging plant is a major milestone.
"This is really the signal that our blending and canning line is ready to operate, so ready to supply customers. So that happened on 21 August and today's announcement comes as we send the documentation away to the CNCA, the Chinese authority, for approval to send to that market.
"Our factory is registered for dairy, it is registered for infant formula ingredients and what we call base powders... We needed to finish this canning line before we could apply for registration to send finished infant formula product into the market. With this in place, that's what we are doing now."
Dr Penno said in the meantime, Synlait could package finished formula for other markets, including New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia.
