An August completion is expected for a new whey processing facility at Leprino Foods Co.'s Waverly, N.Y., mozzarella plant. The drying system will be housed in a 30,000 sq. ft. addition to the plant, which produces about 240,000 pounds of cheese per day for the Denver, Colo.-based processor. The drying system will process about 2 million pounds of whey protein per day. The project is being managed by Stahlman Engineering Corp., New London, N.H. Stahlman designed a similar whey drying system at Cabot Creamery's cheddar plant in Middlebury, Vt., 285 miles Northeast of Waverly (see Food Engineering, February 2002).

A $29 million expansion at Kraft Foods' Winchester, Va., plant will add more processing and packaging capacity for the Northfield, Ill.-based firm's popular Capri Sun line of fruit juice drinks. Construction begins next month and is scheduled for completion in April 2003. The project marks the third expansion since the plant opened in 1992. It will add 34,000 sq. ft. to a building that also packages Oscar Mayer Lunchables and Kool-Aid and Tang drink products. The expansion will add 75 jobs to the plant's current staff of 300.

Design work is underway for a $30 million pork processing facility slated to begin production in June 2003 in Rantoul, Ill. Smyrna, Ga.-based the Affiliates Group was awarded the design/build contract by American Premium Foods Cooperative, a Belleville, Ill.-based consortium of 240 hog producers. The facility will process 2,800 hogs a day in a one-shift operation and will employ 210.