UPDATE: Company statement
Bega Cheese has reviewed its processed cheese capacity at Ridge Street in Bega and Strathmerton in Victoria and made the decision to consolidate some processed cheese capacity. The transition of the volume will result in 74 positions being made redundant at our Ridge Street facility by December. Voluntary site wide redundancies will be offered meaning that some processed cheese staff may elect to take the redundancy and there maybe opportunities for some processed cheese staff to retrain for other roles within Bega Cheese. Bega Cheese will continue to employ in excess of 600 staff at Bega based facilities.
Bega Cheese has announced the reduction and consolidation of its processed cheese production, with 74 jobs to go at its Bega facility by Christmas.
On local radio this morning executive chair Barry Irvin said a review of its processed cheese slices drove the decision to downsize its production.
The company has two plants that produce processed cheese, Bega in New South Wales and Strathmerton in Victoria. All processed cheese slices will now be made at Strathmerton.
“We’ve seen a reduction in demand and an increase in competition around processed cheese and consumers wanting more natural products, so we decided to reduce the size of our production,” he said.
Roughly 600 people work at the Bega plant and there had been “good interest” in voluntary redundancies, he said.
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