MD FOODS is investing more than £8 million in its dairy plant at Bamber Bridge, near Preston, to bring it into line with the best in Europe.

The cash injection will provide state-of-the-art equipment, a new canteen, more offices, and will secure jobs

Bosses at MD Foods, who employ 400 people at the Bamber Bridge dairy, say they want to make the plant the best in England by the year 2000 and exceed European Dairy Standards within four years.

MD chief executive David Salkeld said: "We want to lead the dairy industry into the next century.

"Second best just won't do. MD Foods is determined to have the very best operating standards, the best filling technology, and the best processing standards."

And manager of the Bamber Bridge dairy, Peter Fleming, added: "The investment will increase cold storage capacity, creating more room for receiving and storing the raw milk. This will raise the plant's annual production capacity to 300 million litres of milk and cream. We will also be upgrading our laboratory structure."

He added: "We are determined to make our plant the most technologically advanced in the business."

A one-way traffic system is also planned for the site to ease the flow of vehicles.

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