A new pet food manufacturing facility has been given the green light in one of the Sunshine Coast’s major industrial precincts.
The development is planned for 17 and 19 Maurice Harvey Crescent, Corbould Park, where a two-stage industrial building of about 4934sqm is proposed across a 9265sqm site.
MAP Foundation Limited is the applicant, with the development application submitted through I.B. Town Planning in December 2025.
The original plans were for a 12m-high building divided into four tenancy areas, with 51 car parks, 26 motorcycle spaces and 11 bicycle spaces.
They also included a 100sqm caretaker’s residence on the mezzanine level of one tenancy, with bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living area. That component was later removed and the approved plans now provide 55 car parks.
The facility would produce pet treats using raw meat ingredients that are cooked, dried and dehydrated before being mixed, formed, dried again, cut and packaged.
The planning report gives a clear indication of how the operation is intended to work.
“All cooking, drying, and dehydration processes will take place within fully enclosed, purpose-built chambers that are fitted with sealed air handling and filtration systems,” it states.
It also states meat and other wet ingredients would be handled inside temperature-controlled areas and moved directly into enclosed processing equipment, with the applicant saying this would prevent exposure capable of creating odour.
More detailed air-quality work was submitted as the application progressed.
That report says frozen meat would arrive in sealed 25kg cartons or plastic-wrapped blocks, be placed straight into refrigerated storage and remain frozen during the early stages of processing.
The proposed process does not involve conventional rendering, open boiling or high-temperature roasting. Instead, frozen material would be rapidly dehydrated before being turned into pet treats, which would then be heated to about 72C to 75C for setting and pasteurisation.
Smell has also been addressed in the design.
The air-quality assessment identifies the dehydrator, cooking, cooling and process-room ventilation as potential odour sources, and proposes a wet scrubber to treat the main dehydrator exhaust. It says there would be no routine storage of thawed raw meat and no routine putrescible production waste.
The consultant’s conclusions are conditional on the proposed extraction and odour-control systems being installed, commissioned and later tested to confirm required emission limits are being met.
The operating plans also tightened as the application progressed.
The original planning report argued the industrial use should be allowed to operate without restricted hours because the site was not near a residential area.
But the later air-quality assessment sets routine production between 7am and 7pm and states no routine evening or night-time manufacturing is proposed.
The impact-assessable application also went through public consultation, attracting one properly made submission.
The submission, from Comton Pty Ltd, raised concerns about potential odour, the handling and unloading of raw materials and the effectiveness of the proposed air-treatment systems.
Further technical work was subsequently provided by the applicant, including air-dispersion modelling and more detail about odour controls, monitoring and contingency measures.
MAP Foundation Ltd was registered in 2021 and is an Australian public company and registered charity, with its main business location listed as Brisbane on the Australian Business Register.
The foundation is associated with businessman and former Olympic canoe coach Michael “Mike” Pond, whose background includes decades in the pet food industry.
Mr Pond’s public profile lists MAP Ventures Australia among his business interests, while Prime100 identifies him as one of the people who established the Australian premium pet food company.
A 2025 business event profile on Humanitix described Mr Pond as a 35-year pet food industry veteran who had founded and grown Prime100 before selling his interest, and said he now invested in and mentored other pet food entrepreneurs.
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Sunshine Coast Council’s approval of the proposed facility comes with conditions covering the site layout, access, parking, landscaping, engineering works and environmental management.
Among them, the two lots must be amalgamated before the business starts operating.
Council has also required further changes to the landscape plan, including updated planting around enlarged bio-retention basins and changes needed to reflect conditions of approval.
Environmental controls must also be maintained once the facility begins operating, with a site-based management plan required to cover potential sources of environmental harm, monitoring, staff procedures and contingency measures.
The development can be staged, with the approved plans showing a future Stage 2 extension. Any unfinished parts of the approval will lapse if the whole approved use has not happened by September 30, 2032.
Sunshine Coast News has approached MAP Foundation and I.B. Town Planning and asked how it plans to respond to the council’s conditions and required amendments to the plans, but they have declined to comment.
