Purina invests €55M to upgrade Italian pet food plant

Nestlé Purina announced a $64 million (€55M) investment to improve its production facility in Portogruaro, 70 km from Venice. 

The plan includes site-wide modernization, focusing on manufacturing super-premium and veterinary diets. 

The company told GlobalPETS that the upgrade aims to enhance “manufacturing capabilities, operational flexibility and digitalization.”

The plant currently has an annual production capacity of more than 130,000 tons of pet food, which will remain unchanged.

Specialized focus 

According to the pet food giant, the Portogruaro site is one of the most advanced facilities in Purina’s European network for producing its dry pet food portfolio and plays a key role in caling up the production of new products.

“Within Italy, Portogruaro will continue to focus on dry pet food production, while the new Mantova facility will be dedicated to the production of wet pet food for dogs and cats,” the company says. 

The Mantova factory was announced in June, backed by a €481 million ($548M) investment. Expected to be operational in 2029, it will combine a wet pet food manufacturing facility with a logistics hub serving Purina and other Nestlé brands.

On-site wastewater treatment 

The investment will also fund the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant at the site. The new plant will allow the factory to treat wastewater on-site rather than relying on external facilities. 

Purina says the plant will improve operational efficiency and reduce the need to transport wastewater to external facilities.

“This will decrease the number of transport movements required for wastewater handling, resulting in lower traffic volumes and associated emissions,” the company tells GlobalPETS.