A spreadable cheese factory on Gateshead’s Team Valley will come to national attention this week when it is featured on the BBC’s Inside the Factory programme.
The Primula Cheese plant, where 3,000 tonnes of spreadable cheese is produced every year, has been visited by TV presenters Gregg Wallace and Chelsea Healey for the BBC2 programme.
The show will see Gregg Wallace oversee the production of a new spicy cheese product at the plant, witnessing a 28,000-litre delivery of milk, chopping 344 kilos of cheddar and gouda, before blending it with whey, water and jalapeños to make the final spreadable product.
Meanwhile, co-host Cherry Healey finds out how bacteria are responsible for the variety in smell, taste and appearance of different types of cheese, as well as learning the scientific rules for making perfect cheese on toast.
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Historian Ruth Goodman also features in the show, looking at how cheddar became the predominant hard cheese choice of the world.
The programme comes in the fourth series of Inside the Factory, with previous episodes having visited some of the UK’s best known manufacturing sites, include the Nestlé chocolate factory in York, the Heinz baked beans factory in Wigan and the UK’s largest brewery in Burton upon Trent.
Primula managing director Paul Lewney said: “It was an absolute pleasure hosting Gregg, Cherry and the crew at Primula and I’m sure they had as much fun following our Primula Cheese ‘n’ Jalapeños production as we did.
“We’re very excited about our new Flavour Burst range, which targets a younger audience and includes Paprika and Peri Peri, as well as Jalapeños, providing a great as an alternative to grated cheese.
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“We’ve come across so many people over the years who don’t understand how we’re able to get real cheese and other fresh ingredients into our tubes, so we can’t wait for viewers to see just what goes into making Primula Cheese.
“We’re really proud of our team, our operations and our fantastic products that are all made right here in the North East and we were delighted to be given this opportunity to show the nation just how much hard work is put in to producing their favourite spreadable cheese.”
Primula Cheese has been around for almost 100 years, launching as the world’s first spreadable cheese in 1924. It was introduced to the UK five years later, and since the 1960s all of its profits have gone to the Kavli Trust, which was set up by its parent firm to distribute money to good causes.
Inside the Factory with Primula Cheese airs tonight on BBC Two at 8pm and will be available afterwards on the BBC iPlayer.
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