verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message arla foods type agricultural cooperative industry dairy founded 2000 2000 headquarters aarhus denmark area served worldwide key people peder tuborgh ceo povl krogsgaard vice ceo andreas lundby vice ceo ke hantoft chairperson revenue 63 114 billion dkk 2013 operating income 1 413 billion dkk 2010 net income 1 253 billion dkk 2010 number of employees 18 112 2013 website http arla.com arla foods is an international cooperative based in aarhus denmark and the largest producer of dairy products in scandinavia . arla foods was formed as the result of a merger between the swedish dairy cooperative arla and the danish dairy company md foods on 17 april 2000 . arla foods is the seventh largest dairy company in the world measured by turnover . 1 among the cooperative dairy companies arla is the third largest in the world citation needed . at the start of 2010 7 625 danish and swedish cooperative members owned the cooperative citation needed . arla foods has three major brands arla 2 lurpak and castello cheeses that are sold worldwide . the arla brand is both a co operative brand and a brand across all product categories . the lurpak brand of butter and spreads is owned by the danish dairy board and castello is a cheese brand including blue cheese and yellow cheeses . 3 4 the name arla derives from the same word as the english word early and is an archaic swedish term for early in the morning . arla foods incorporates arla foods ingredients a former division established as an independent subsidiary in 2011 . the company develops and manufactures milk based ingredients primarily functional and nutritional milk proteins bioactive phospholipids minerals permeate and lactose for the food industry . head office is located in denmark . arla foods ingredients has one wholly owned production plant in denmark with joint venture production at facilities in argentina and germany . in early 2011 arla foods and dmk formed the joint venture company arnoco gmbh & co. kg to produce whey proteins for the food industry . contents 1 history 2 functional ingredients 3 nutritional ingredients 4 middle east boycott 5 2008 chinese milk scandal 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message the swedish arla ekonomisk f rening and the danish md foods became one company arla foods amba in 2000 . the two dairy companies share a similar history history of arla foods in sweden from 1881 to 1999 1881 the first co operative dairy is established at stora arla g rd in v stmanland under the name of arla mejerif rening . 1915 arla s history begins when landtm nnens mj lkf rs ljningsf rening is formed . the name is later changed to mj lkcentralen mc . subsequent years see a substantial number of larger and smaller dairies merging with mj lkcentralen and in connection with a number of mergers in the early 1970s it is proposed that the company should have a new common name . 1945 mj lkcentralen acquires nen s village dairies . 1949 the mc cow designed by mj lkcentralen s ad man karl thunberg is registered as a trademark 1959 the dairy associations in the county of skaraborg merge with mj lkcentralen . 1971 mj lkcentralen amalgamates with lantbrukarnas mj lkcentralen in gothenburg syd stmejerier and the rebro area s dairy association begins . 1974 registration of the name mj lkcentralen arla . 1975 mj lkcentralen changes name to arla and acquires its new logo the arla cow . 1992 arla takes a stake in the copenhagen based dairy enigheden owned by kl ver m lk of denmark . 1999 arla has 65 % of the swedish milk production . history of arla foods in denmark from 1882 to 1999 1882 the first co operative in denmark is established in hjedding . in the following decades the number of co operative dairies rises dramatically . 1945 there are 1 650 co operative dairies in denmark 1963 the concept of a nationwide dairy is aired for the first time . 1970 mejeriselskabet danmark md is established on october 1 by four dairy companies and three individual dairies . the company starts out with a milk volume of 384 million kg . 1970s and 1980s various dairies and dairy companies across denmark join mejeriselskabet denmark through mergers or acquisitions . 1978 79 the volume of milk exceeds 1 billion kg for the first time . 1988 the company changes name to the more international md foods . 1989 md foods international a s is formed for the purpose of acquiring dairies abroad . 1990 md foods international acquires the uk s fifth largest dairy company associated fresh foods . 1992 md foods and denmark s second largest dairy company kl ver m lk sign a financially binding cooperation agreement . md foods international makes further acquisitions in the uk . 1996 there are 15 cooperative dairies left in denmark including md foods . 1999 md foods and kl ver m lk merge to become md foods gaining 90 % of the danish milk production . arla foods history from 2000 and forward hirtshals andelsmejeri an arla foods dairy in hirtshals denmark the two companies behind arla foods amba is the danish md foods and the swedish arla the founding of arla foods 1995 md foods and arla begin to co operate 1999 plans for a merger between arla and md foods take shape and during the autumn the owners the cooperative members agree to the proposal and md foods and arla announce their merger . 2000 arla foods amba is formed on april 17 2001 on june 27 arla foods publishes a new five year strategy plan which means the closure of 17 dairies in denmark and sweden and the redundancies of approx . 1 000 people . 2002 the cooperative members in hellevad omegns andelsmejeri agree 63 votes for and 50 against to a merger with arla foods with effect from 30 september 2002 . 2004 on 2 november arla foods canadian subsidiary agrees to buy the canadian cheese importer and producer national cheese company ltd. 2005 the planned merger between arla foods and the dutch campina break down in april and arla s ceo ke modig leaves the company . peder tuborgh is appointed ceo in june . 2005 on august 26 arla foods and the chinese dairy company china mengniu dairy company begin a partnership for the production of powdered milk in the chinese market . 2006 on january 27 arla foods buys the speciality dairy white clover dairy in wisconsin usa . the purchase of wisconsin based white clover dairy a company with 170 employees on 26 january 2006 provided direct access to the u.s. market white clover had produced arla products under license since 1998 . 5 2006 on june 26 arla foods announces the purchase of the privately owned dairy tholstrup cheese . the purchase gives impetus to arla foods strategy to strengthen its international brands . 2006 on november 8 arla foods announces the purchase of 30 per cent of the shares in the finnish dairy company ingman foods oy ab resulting the establishment of subsidiary arla oy . the purchase is approved by the eu on january 16 2007 . 2007 on march 27 arla foods merges with express dairies in the uk . the merger creates the a uk supplier of dairy products under the name of arla foods uk plc. 2008 production from the swedish fruit juice factory in alings s is relocated to rynkeby foods in ringe during the first half of 2008 . 2008 on january 8 arla foods acquires the remaining 50 per cent of the shares in cocio chokoladem lk a s. 2008 uk farmers become part owners of arla foods uk . to give the british farmers in the supplier group arla foods milk partnership afmp joint ownership of arla foods uk subsidiary arla foods uk 10 000 swedish danish and uk milk producers unite in a new joint venture which from may 14 2008 holds 7 per cent of arla foods uk . 2008 on july 1 arla foods acquires borup andelsmejeri in north zealand . 2008 arla foods acquires the remaining 70 per cent of the shares in the finnish arla ingman oy ab which becomes a fully owned subsidiary . 2009 hirtshals co operative dairy joins arla 2009 authorities approve arla foods to buy fresh nijkerk from frieslandcampina 2011 authorities approve arla foods merger with german dairy company hansa milch 2011 arla dairy swallows the german dairy allg uer k sereien gmbh raising it to the seventh largest dairy company in germany . later the german market is being upgraded ; germany and the netherlands get to the arla consumer germany & netherlands a separate business unit . 2012 arla foods merges with milch union hocheifel in germany and milk link in great britain . 2013 arla opens the world s largest fresh milk plant 6 in aylesbury uk history of arla foods ingredients the first pilot production of whey proteins took place in 1976 in the cellar of hoco powdered milk plant in holstebro denmark . arla foods ingredients initially called danmark protein was established soon after . four years later the company inaugurated the world s largest factory for the production of whey protein concentrate and lactose . in 1994 md foods acquired danmark protein which then became part of md foods ingredients the division responsible for sales of powdered milk . the division s name changed to arla foods ingredients when arla and md foods merged in 2000 . a joint venture agreement with sancor one of the largest dairy companies in south america resulted in the construction of a second production plant in argentina in 2002 . in 2011 a joint venture agreement with the german dairy company dmk marked the launch of an investment plan to expand capacity at arla foods ingredients whey processing plant in denmark and establish a new whey processing plant in germany . functional ingredients edit functional milk proteins from arla foods ingredients are used in bakery products cheese ice cream fermented dairy products meat and ready meals fine foods . nutritional ingredients edit arla foods ingredients develops whey derived bioactive ingredients for infant nutrition clinical nutrition sports nutrition and functional food . ingredients include alpha lactalbumin caseinoglycomacropeptide cgmp casein phosphopeptide milk minerals milk fat globule membrane mfgm osteopontin phospholipids whey hydrolysates whey protein concentrate whey protein isolate middle east boycott edit main article jyllands posten muhammad cartoons controversy wikinews has related news saudis boycott danish dairy produce arla s sales were seriously affected by a boycott of danish products in the middle east in 2006 . anger among muslims over satirical cartoons of muhammed published in denmark was the initial cause . when the danish government refused to condemn the cartoons or meet with eleven ambassadors from muslim nations a boycott of danish products was organised starting in saudi arabia and spreading across the middle east . the middle east is arla s largest market outside of europe . on 3 february 2006 the company said that sales in the middle east dried up completely costing the company us 2 million a day . 7 soon after the boycott hit arla s sales the danish government met with muslim ambassadors and the newspaper issued an apology . despite this the boycott continued unabated for some time . in march 2006 arla took out full page advertising in saudi arabia apologising for the cartoons and