Australian Food Company

Bega Cheese is involved in the dairy industry, we supply cheddar cheese and processed cheddar cheese into the retail and food service markets both in Australia and overseas.

This organisation is a public listed company, and is owned by by a number of shareholders. As a company it manufactures natural cheddar cheese, then it either cuts and packs the cheese into retail packs for the supermarket, or uses the cheese as an ingredient in the manufacture of processed cheese slices.

It is classified a Large company due to the fact that it only has a headcounters in Australia. Despite this their products are still available in a large number of countries because they export consistently. A large scale company caters to a larger portion of people and sells products nationwide, but does not posses headcounters in other countries thus falling short of the classification MULTINATIONAL.

Bega Cheese's Dairy Products Unit manufactures a total of 20,000 tonnes of bulk cheddar, whey powder and butter per year. The Processing and Packaging Unit produces 50,000 tonnes of value-added cheese products including cheddar cheese retail packs and processed cheese products as well as individually wrapped slices and slice on slice products for food service outlets. This all contributes in labelling the company a large scale company, because they cater for a number of different consumer types and their company involves a high level of automation.

The Bega factory, has an extremely high level of mechanisation and automation. They currently push out 95,000 tonnes of retail-ready cheese products yearly. They have automatic case-palletisers, un-manned laser-guided forklifts, and automatic de-boxers actively in use at their factory. They also own an entire line that is fully automated from de-boxing the raw material at one end, to supply of the pallets to the truck at the other end.

Due to the very high levels of automation their factory doesn't require a lot of hands on work. It more so requires a small body of people checking that the equipment is running smoothly and or people controlling and monitoring the computers that control the machines.

Although this is an easier way for a large scale company to produce its products, it has its repercussions. For example if there is a mechanical breakdown, the company would lose a lot of money due to not being able to manufacture any products that are produced on that particular machine. It would cost money to get fixed. Also the time it would take to get it fixed would be costing them because in this time they wouldn't be manufacturing that product.

Bega is driven by consumer demands and does as best as it can to provide products that meet customers' requirements. They also carefully consider current trends and growing markets in order for them to create products that will be popular in order for them to get greater profit.

Their research and development Australian market is driven by market research from their advertising agency, and carried out in-house. The company responds to the domestic Australian market for new products, and they usually focus in certain segments (such as the kid's snacking segment, which is rapidly growing in the dairy section). They also tend to also respond to the demands of export customers who may want products with low salt levels, added ingredients such as Omega-3 fatty acids for good health, depending on the tastes of the region they are being exported to.

Bega's quality assurance is extremely high. They undergo all of the necessary steps to make sure that when their products hit the market they are as safe for consumption as possible. They go above and beyond what is expected of them by regular food safety standards.

They have special clothing to insure that there is no bacterium transferred onto their foods. Also their personal hygiene policy is strongly imprinted in all their employees.

e.g. In some parts of the plant our employees wear lint-free theatre gowns such as the ones used in hospital operating theatres.

The company is very serious about their quality assurance and operates under the HACCP quality assurance program. All of the farms contribute t in their company are HACCP accredited. They have to be accredited before the company is permitted to use their milk.

Every single one of their products are 100% traceable, from input of raw ingredients to the supermarket they end up in.

Product contamination claims are investigated thoroughly once the initial complaint is received, the traceability of our products means that we are able to assess where the contamination occurred.

Most product contamination claims are the result of mis-handling of goods after leaving the factory; in transit, at the supermarket, or within the home. They investigate all complaints, identifying the production line from the information on the pack, which shows the production line, date of manufacture, and the time it was made. They are then able to test products from our 'retention' or 'shelf' samples - which are taken several times an hour from each production run. All shelf samples are kept for the duration of the life of the cheese.

Any contamination or quality issue that results in a product recall, is handled via their distributors, whether they are in Australia or overseas. In Australia, Fonterra Brands (Australia) are our distributors, they operate under a license agreement with Bega Cheese, and they are responsible for the brand in Australia.

Milk (l) Cheese (kg) Butter/Blends (kg) Yogurt (kg)

2005/06 100.2 11.3 4.1 6.6

2006/07 103.4 12.0 3.8 7.1

2007/08 103.0 12.5 4.1 6.9

2008/09 102.6 12.9 4.0 6.7

2009/10 (r) 102.4 13.1 3.8 7.1

2010/11 (r) 104.4 13.7 3.9 7.3

2011/12 (p) 106.2 13.4 3.9 7.5

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