Idaho Milk Products Expands Footprint with Ice Cream and Powder Blending Facility

JEROME, Idaho — In May, the Idaho Milk Products celebrated the ribbon cutting of its new ice cream and powder blending facility in Jerome, marking a significant expansion of its operations and reinforcing its position as a leader in value-added dairy ingredients.

Designed with advanced technology and precision processing, the new integrated facility enhances the company’s ability to deliver exceptional quality, consistency and innovation across an expanded portfolio of dairy products, the company said. The operation combines large-scale production capabilities with the flexibility to meet diverse customer needs across both retail and foodservice markets, bringing together high-speed ice cream manufacturing and high-capacity powder blending within a single facility.

Idaho Milk Products said the facility supports a wide range of production capabilities, from premium ice cream novelties to bulk formats and custom dairy formulations. The company said it can produce up to 54,000 novelty ice cream items per hour, including stick bars, sandwiches and cones, with options for variegates, inclusions and dual coatings. In addition to novelties, the plant offers high-capacity bulk manufacturing, producing up to 14,400 pints per hour or 7,200 48-ounce containers per hour. Flexible packaging options range from 3-ounce servings to half-gallon containers, allowing for tailored solutions that meet precise customer specifications.

Complementing its ice cream capabilities, the facility features advanced dry blending systems capable of processing up to 16,000 pounds per hour, delivering consistent, dairy-based ingredient solutions tailored to specific food applications, the company said.  With flexible batch sizing, integrated sifting and high-speed filling and a diverse ingredient portfolio, Idaho Milk Products supports custom formulations designed to meet functional, performance, and market requirements.

“Today marks an important milestone as we celebrate the continued evolution of Idaho Milk Products alongside our commercial, community and industry partners,” said CEO Daragh Maccabee. “After years of planning, this new facility enables us to advance our milk protein powder business through customized blending solutions while bringing the same value-added approach to cream as we have with milk protein. More importantly, this is a plant built for the future.”

Maccabee added, “I feel privileged to lead an exceptional team. Their dedication, along with the support of our dairy farmer owners, positions us to further deliver on our purpose of bringing value to milk for generations.”

John Murphy, vice president of operations, emphasized the scale and collaboration behind the project.

“Delivering a $190 million project on time and on budget requires expertise, commitment, and strong partnerships,” he said. “This achievement reflects the collective effort of our internal teams and external partners, and we’re proud of the result.”

Ice Cream Business Manager Louis Armsttong said the facility expands Idaho Milk Products ability to innovate and collaborate with customers across both novelty and bulk ice cream capabilities.

“We look forward to partnering with brands to develop high-quality ice cream products across a variety of formats and to support their continued growth,” he said.

Kevin Quinn, vice president of sales and marketing, said Idaho Milk Product’s high-speed, high-capacity blending capabilities strengthen the company’s ability to serve both new and existing customers.

“By leveraging our innovation expertise, we can bring new solutions to market more efficiently, reinforcing our position as a trusted dairy ingredients supplier and expanding our reach across a broader range of applications and market segments,” he said.

Facility Highlights:

• Up to 300 million ice cream novelty items annually
• Up to 66 million pints of ice cream annually
• Up to 14 million gallons of liquid ice cream mix processed annually
• Up to 120 million pounds of dry powder blending products annually