Important to us
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Tasty cheese starts with milk of impeccable quality. And employees who enjoy their work and understand that making cheese is still a craft. Despite the large scale of our production locations.
Safety
Safety in the workplace is priority number one, two and three. This includes both ensuring safety for our employees, and creating awareness among colleagues around this issue.
TIGER
From the DMK Group we have a TIGER value for safety: ‘Working without accidents is the goal of safety at work. The health of our employees is an important building block for the success of the company. We continuously improve the work environment and actively promote safety awareness in the DMK Group. You can only be successful if you work safely.’
Sustainability
As part of DMK, DOC Kaas B.V. is aware of the vulnerability of the environment and actively contributes to making the production of cheese more sustainable. Our goal is to make sustainability the core of our actions throughout the entire value chain. This is part of our Mission 2030.
DOC Kaas B.V. has its own power plant at the Zuivelpark. By using a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, steam (heat) and electricity (power) are produced simultaneously. We have two gas turbines, with the second serving as a back-up.
The gas turbine generates electricity from natural gas, whereby the hot air produced by the turbine is blown into a steam boiler. The water in this boiler is then converted into steam. The overall efficiency of the CHP plant (electricity + heat) from natural gas is ±90%, while the efficiency of regular power plants in the Netherlands on average is 55%.
Water treatment
Together with our ‘neighbour’ wheyco, which processes the whey, we aim to maximise water reuse. This occurs at multiple places within our production process. For example, we extract water from the whey expelled from the milk during cheesemaking. This water (referred to as condensate) is converted into cleaner process water with the help of a machine and is then reused within the cheese and whey factories. Recycling water also results in a reduction of wastewater; a sustainable win-win situation in other words.
In addition, the water recycling process also has a positive effect on energy consumption. Its water network enables DOC Kaas to load water at different temperatures into separate water tanks. By using hot water (instead of natural gas) for heating production flows, and cold water for cooling, DOC Kaas consumes less energy.
We are electrifying the Alteveerstraat and Zuivelpark production sites, thus reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. The production of cheese requires energy and we are increasingly using renewable sources for this purpose.
In addition, we are affiliated with the Dutch Sustainable Dairy Chain sector organisation and are committed to their sustainability objectives. We use these objectives as the starting point for our sustainability strategy. For example, at DOC Kaas B.V. we are working on various initiatives, such as identifying our CO2 emissions and measuring the effect of our measures.
Whey processing
Whey is expelled during cheese production. This whey is processed by wheyco and is then used to produce other finished products. The DOC Kaas B.V. and wheyco production facilities are ‘neighbours’ and are located a stone’s throw away from each other at Zuivelpark in Hoogeveen.
Each hour 120,000 litres of whey flow through the pipelines from our factory to the wheyco factory. Here the whey is processed into whey protein concentrate (WPC) and whey permeate. The supply of milk, the production of cheese and the processing of whey consequently takes place at a single location. This provides for a sustainable and cost-efficient process, because it eliminates transport between the two factories at Zuivelpark.
The water recycling process also has a beneficial effect on energy consumption. Thanks to our water network, we can load water of different temperatures into separate water tanks. By using water from the combined heat and power plant (instead of natural gas) for heating and cooling, we also use a cleaner source of energy.
On an annual basis, this recycling process saves approximately 800 million liters of water. Just imagine: this is equivalent to a row of water-filled tankers from Groningen to Maastricht, bumper to bumper!
Waste
We are actively working on waste separation and are trying to optimize this further. The office and production waste, for example, is removed and processed by a specialized waste processing company. Waste during the production process is recycled or processed in various ways. The residual brine water (from the brine bath), for example, is used to keep the North Water salt water purification plant in Delfzijl running.
Environmental Management Policy
We are actively engaged in environmental and management policies. We have an ISO14001 certificate for this purpose. Part of this is the real time monitoring of the production process and analyzing energy data to ensure sustainability quality. Our motivation for this certificate is to minimize our impact on the environment and to meet our customer requirements. Every year, we check whether we still meet the requirements for this certificate via an internal and external audit. In 2020 we also added the module CO2 reduction management to ISO14001, in which we are actively working on reducing our CO2 emissions.
Innovation
Innovation is broadly applied within DOC Kaas B.V. We do not only look at recipes, packaging, shelf life and the application of cheese. It concerns optimization and innovation throughout the chain – from milk to packaged product.
Recipes
Product innovations are sometimes self-initiated, but usually a response to a customer’s request. An example of product innovation is improving the melting properties of a certain type of cheese. The recipe is then changed in such a way that a specific cheese melts better in a sandwich, without, for example, making the bread so soft. Another example is the cutting up of cheese. Grated cheese should not clump and slices of cheese should not stick together. The various applications of cheese and the customer-specific wishes mean that we have to think carefully about the composition of our cheeses. Plenty of challenges for us!
Because we are part of the DMK Group, we have access to two innovation centers, where we develop and test new products and recipes.
Within DOC Kaas B.V., process innovation takes place by, among other things, digitalizing and automating production monitoring. To put it simply: within DOC Kaas B.V. we try to collect as much data as possible about the production process and to use this data to steer. Think for example of the separation of water and waste, or a quality measurement within the production process.
We try to (re)use energy and products whenever possible. Because waste is decline and that’s how we try to complete our sustainability and innovation circle.
“From my youth I have been working in the cheese world, this is something I was brought up with. By continuously innovating our processes and products together we make better cheese in a more efficient way. This gives me a lot of pleasure and energy.” Fokke Postma, Engineer Continuous Improvement
“From my youth I have been working in the cheese world, this is something I was brought up with. By continuously innovating our processes and products together we make better cheese in a more efficient way. This gives me a lot of pleasure and energy.”
Fokke Postma, Engineer Continuous Improvement
“We challenge ourselves constantly to repeatedly innovate or find new recipes. The award winning Zoeteweijde [Sweet Meadow] cheese of Uniekaas Holland B.V. is a crowning achievement!” Sander Broersma, Product Developer
“We challenge ourselves constantly to repeatedly innovate or find new recipes. The award winning Zoeteweijde [Sweet Meadow] cheese of Uniekaas Holland B.V. is a crowning achievement!”
Sander Broersma, Product Developer
Quality
Food safety is a key component of our quality assurance. We closely follow market developments to see which certifications are required now and in the future. As a result, we are IFS and BRC certified. These are GFSI recognised certifications to ensure we produce food for consumers safely and responsibly.
DOC Cheese B.V.’s products are Halal certified. We have the right raw materials and processes in house for this purpose and are audited for this on an ongoing basis. By making use of vegetable rennet in producing our cheese, for example, vegetarians are also able to eat our products.
DOC Kaas B.V. has its own laboratory with professional staff at Zuivelpark. Here we safeguard the quality of our products through means of testing. We test intermediate and finished products, such as cheese and whey, as well as raw material flows, such as milk and process water. The raw materials and finished products are tested for quality, food safety, composition and other specifications. The lab also takes samples from the wastewater produced by the production process to collect data for the purpose of further optimising sustainability and efficiency.
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