TWIN FALLS, ID (KMVT) Practically all of us want to know where our food comes from, and that it's safe to eat. A local cheese company that has big plans for Magic Valley has quite the historic background.

We've all heard of Kraft Cheese. J.L Kraft invested in Southern Idaho dairy operations just after World War II. The original Richfield plant was one of 22 Kraft cheese plants in Idaho. In 1973, C.W. Ward built a new plant west of town, and found a way to separate whey into two useful parts.

Jeff Williams, President and CEO of Glanbia Foods, says, "He expanded that business to not only make cheese, but also fractionate the whey into its two valuable components, which is the protein and the lactose or milk sugar."

Fastforward to 1990, when Irish company Avonmore bought Ward's Cheese. After a merger with another Irish company, they changed their name to Glanbia, which comes from two gaelic words that mean "pure food."

Williams says, "The Gooding plant processes about 10 million pounds of milk a day, the Twin Falls plant processes almost three million pounds of milk a day. So we usually use a number around 12 million pounds."

Williams says Glanbia processes a third of the milk produced in the entire state of Idaho. He says building their new corporate headquarters and cheese innovation center in downtown Twin Falls proves that Glanbia is here for the long haul.

Williams says, "Customers and other people that visit us on a regular basis will spend money downtown. And that'll create some economic vitality for others to come in and create restaurants, coffee shops, and things like that."

Jan. 27, 2012.