Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products has a new name. The Irish Dairy Board changed its name to Ornua, The Home of Irish Dairy.

Ornua currently supplies dairy branded products and ingredients to over 110 markets around the world. Ornua owns the Kerrygold brand, which is used for butter, cheese and milk powders. Other consumer brands are Dubliner, Londoner, Shannongold and MU.

In the United States, Kerrygold butter is ranked No. 4 based on 2014 dollar sales and unit sales, as measured by AC Nielsen. Its Cheddar cheese ranked first in the Specialty Cheddar Category, according to The Perishables Group Data.

The re-branding was timed to coincide with the lifting of milk quotes in the European Union.

This is the second time in the 54-year history of the organization that it has changed its name. Originally established in 1961 by the Irish Government as An Bord Bainne, it became a co-operative in 1973. It adopted the name Irish Dairy Board Co-operative Limited in 1994.

Ireland’s Ornua has opened a dairy ingredients plant in Wisconsin

Recent Ornua investments include:

  • Building a Center of Excellence for Kerrygold Butter Production & Packing in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland, to support the global development of the Kerrygold brand.
  • Opening of state-of-the-art facility in Wisconsin marks the completion of $80 million investment program in the Ornua Ingredients North America business
  • Acquisition of a Spanish cheese business and the formation of Ornua Espana
  • Currently constructing a cheese manufacturing facility in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to service the Middle East North Africa market