CREDITON Dairy Limited, the leading independent dairy drinks producer and one of the town’s biggest employers, has apologised for a noise issue which caused serious concern for many local residents on Monday, September 15.

Between 9.30pm and 10.11pm, very loud noise could be heard emanating from the Dairy, which operates from premises in the heart of the town near Crediton Parish Church.

The noise was so loud that it could be heard by hundreds of people across the town, sparking a great deal of comment on social media.

Some said that they were concerned for their safety and wondered if they should evacuate from their nearby homes.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Tuesday, September 16, a Crediton Dairy spokesperson said: “We can confirm that last night during a planned cleaning of plant and pipework a steam pressure release valve activated at the Dairy which regrettably caused noise that impacted on our neighbours.

“We immediately took steps to shut down the the plant and are investigating why the valve activated.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the valve operated as designed and there was no safety risk to the local community or our employees.

“Nevertheless, we would like to sincerely apologise to our neighbours for any disruption that the event caused.”

In August the Diary announced that the business continues to perform well at a financial, commercial and operational level.

It made the announcement after publishing its report and accounts for the 53 week period ending January 4, 2025.

While noting that the reporting period was a challenging and rapidly changing one for the dairy industry, it said that the year started with subdued dairy markets and this fed through to low farmgate prices, which combined with a poor spring weatherwise, resulted in low milk volumes.

As the year progressed, as a result of strengthening commodity markets, particularly cream which hit record highs in the Autumn and concerns over milk volumes, farmgate prices increased which in turn stimulated growth in milk volumes.

It increased the milk price paid to its farmers and performed well financially with turnover of £131.3 million, £20 million higher the prior year (2023: £111.3 million).

The Dairy said this reflected the growth in sales of extended shelf life products and higher cream prices.

Largely as a result of producing a higher volume and better mix of products, the business generated a profit for the financial period of £10.4 million (2023: £9 million).

The results reflect the continuing strong sales performance and improved mix of the growing range of its own label flavoured and functional milks and branded dairy drinks made at the Dairy.

The latter includes Arctic Coffee, now the second biggest iced coffee brand sold in British supermarkets growing ahead of the iced coffee category both in both volume and value terms; the fast-growing ProMlk range which is now the No.2 best-selling protein milkshake brand in British supermarkets in value and No1 in volume; and Biocol the cholesterol reducing white milk brand which is now one of the fastest growing speciality white milk brands on the market.

During the year the business made a further £5.7 million of capital investment to upgrade and expand its processing facilities. This included improving its pasteurisation, processing and filling capacity.

Having already invested some £41.7 million in developing the Dairy since the Management Buy Out in 2013, in the current year the business is investing a further £5.7 million.

This includes boosting further its processing capacity and capabilities, together with undertaking a major upgrade of its wastewater treatment plant.