Milk 10, milk derivatives 11, vegetable oils 12 and sugar 13 are stored in tanks. Milk and another ingredient are delivered to aseptic tanks 44 via a steriliser 34-37. The milk is also treated at another processing station 15 en route. The sterilised milk and an ingredient are transferred 54, 55 from the aseptic tanks to cartons 53 via metered fillers. The cartons 53 are sealed and transferred and then loaded in two rows of six into an open topped case 58. Each case is conveyed past a pair of sensors 76； one sensor is adjacent each row and can identify missing cartons in each case. The cases can be shrink wrapped 60 and can be sorted by the position of an offset indicia on their base. The process can also include batch processing stations 16-19 which creates intermediates from raw ingredients or combinations thereof. Intermediates include cream, skimmed milk with 9% solid contents, skimmed milk with 21% solid contents. This could be done by reverse osmosis.
