Finnish dairy company Valio has opened its new €170m snack manufacturing plant in Riihimäki, southern Finland.

Covering a 53ha area, the company’s new plant is equipped with modern and environmentally friendly technology to produce novel snack products.

Valio CEO Annikka Hurme said: “Innovativeness, a wonderful taste, and responsible manufacturing practices. These are the things that people expect from their snacks, and our new snack plant meets these needs.

"The new plant also combines Valio Riihimäki’s 50-year tradition of yoghurt manufacturing with the most advanced technology."

“The plant is a concrete example of how seriously we take our responsibilities since many loss-reducing and natural resource-saving choices were made in its planning and construction. The new plant also combines Valio Riihimäki’s 50-year tradition of yoghurt manufacturing with the most advanced technology.

Valio began construction of the five-storey plant in 2014. The facility can annually produce 120 million kilos of snack products.

The company explained that they have used an environment-friendly design for their plant, which focuses on minimising resource wastage and energy consumption.

The inclusion of advanced technologies has also enabled the company to design new manufacturing processes in the plant to help deliver snack products that are both healthy and delicious.

The company initially intends to export the majority of the products manufactured at the plant to countries such as Sweden and Denmark. The company will also roll out the products to other countries at a later stage.

In the first phase, the plant will manufacture products such as the companys Valiojogurtti series.