UP to 50 new jobs could be created as a result of a £7 million sterling expansion at a Coleraine cheese factory. Dairy Produce Packers is the largest cheese processor in the UK, producing nearly 20,000 tonnes of cheese a year. It exports to around 20 countries, with almost half its output going to countries outside the UK, including customers in Africa and the Far East.

One of DPP's biggest customers is McDonald's, for whom it is the sole supplier for the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Belgium, and 40 per cent of France.

DPP, which is owned by the Cork based Golden Vale, one of Europe's biggest dairy companies, employs around 260 people on its 13 acre site. It also makes cheese for many of Britain's supermarket chains, including Sainsbury, Tesco, and Asda, as well as for Northern Ireland chains Stewarts and Wellworth.