Plant based milk is putting worry on the face of all dairy farmers across the UK. It’s a known fact that the dairy industry has seen better days with many reports in the news showcasing the desperate measures dairy farmers are going to in order to keep the sales of dairy profitable such as fizzy milk. With veganism quadrupling in the 5 years between 2012 and 2017 they are fighting a losing battle.
This study shows how in the UK 10% of children aged between 8 to 16 re now vegan or vegetarian furthermore 44% try to eat less meat, dairy and eggs. Many dairy companies are still very much fighting the battle of dairy but as this source shows some brands such as Danone have decided to try and turn things around, investing $60 million in dairy-free products.
A recent report published by Mintel shows that 23% of Britons are now choosing plant based milks such as almond, soy, oat or rice milk. This is up just 19% for the same three month period from 2018. The study also shows that sales of plant based milks specifically oat milk which was up 17% from 2017, almond variants which were up 10% between 2017-18 and coconut which was up 16% between the same period.
The alternative milk industry is constantly changing and at a very fast pace, recently we’ve seen brands such as Perfect Day releasing three vegan ice cream flavours which supposedly taste just like dairy which they claim is down to taking milks essential genes and adding in microflora, they then ferment it to turn plant sugar into milk proteins otherwise known as whey and casein as these are nutritionally identical to when and casein from cows but we’re still not sure how we feel about this product nor have we tried it.
Whilst plant milks are definitely on the rise Mintel go on to state that they still only account for 4% of volume sales and 8% of value sales of white milk as a whole. This difference is even bigger in cooking with just 25% of plant-based milk alternatives being used in cooking compared to 42% for standard cow’s milk users. The hot drink industry is something where cow juice is used on a day to day basis and it is here we see the biggest difference as only 42% of plant-based milk alternatives consumers use plant based milks in their hot drink of choice whereas 82% of cow milk drinkers use it in their favourite hot beverages.
The alternative milk industry still has some way to go to be able to become the majority but with the changes we are seeing over the last 12 months it doesn’t look like it will be long before we see a huge turn in the tide and dairy farms either closing down or attempting to convert their business so as not to have to close their doors for good.
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