Glanbia and farm family suppliers sending meal kits to Ukraine
250,000 nutritional Irish milk powder-based meal kits on the way to Ukrainian hospitals and Poland to feed refugees
Glanbia Ireland and its farm family suppliers have teamed up with manufacturing partners Complex Nutrition to get 250,000 nutritional Irish milk powder-based meal kits to Ukrainian hospitals and refugees fleeing into Poland.
Production of the humanitarian cargo at the Epicom/Complex Nutrition plant in Navan, Co Meath is now complete and the much-needed donation will feed thousands of families in medical settings and fleeing Ukraine.
Such is the demand for the ready to use meal kits that the Ukrainian Embassy is to fly part of the donation directly to medics in the Ukraine. The remainder will be shipped on Monday by other volunteer companies in the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Ireland network
Complex Nutrition CEO, John Cunningham, said: “We’re in the complex nutrition area to add value to milk powder and the product we’re making will provide a full, nutritional meal for anyone aged 3 years of age and over just by adding cold water. The product is robust, it has a shelf life of 18 months and can easily be made in a cup or a jug.
“We’ve donated shakers for every box along with an instruction leaflet in both English and Ukrainian. We have 12 nationalities among our workforce here – including one Ukrainian, lots of Polish, Latvians, Lithuanians, Slovenians and Romanians. They’re all very proud of what we’re doing and are also glad to play their part.”
John Cunningham paid tribute to everyone for the speed at which they have come together to get the urgent supplies manufactured and deliver 22 pallets in a 40ft container in the coming days through a network of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Ireland.
Glanbia Ireland Chairman, John Murphy, said: “Our initial aim was to get 100,000 milk powder based meal kits to refugees in Poland. Now that has grown to 250,000 and Glanbia is also providing the minerals and vitamins needed to fortify the food.”