Page 21 - Food & Drink Magazine October 2019

vegan cheese is the latest variety of alt-milk to hit the shelves. It rose to prominence through US-brand, Ripple Foods, which obtained a US$44 million grant from Google to develop it.
While this and other overseas brands are available in some health-food stores, it is not widely available.
One area that had traditionally held the soy and almond milk production industry back was the relative incompatibility of the products for use by baristas in cafés. These milks have had a tendency to split when heated. However, industry operators have developed successful barista-friendly dairy milk
Dairy farmers are hitting back, through lobby group Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF). ADF has begun lobbying the federal government, to change regulations relating to the labelling and promotion of plant-based milk.
It is demanding that alternative drinks not derived from animals be marketed as ‘juice’ or ‘extract’.
A similar law to this one proposed by the ADF, has been passed in France, following a ruling by the European Court of Justice.
In order to combat the rise of veganism, some dairy farmers are changing their practices and, transitioning to ‘kind milk’.
One of the criticisms that vegans and other ethical objectors to dairy milk consumption is the separation of calves from their mothers too early after birth.
Milk producers have also come up with new varieties of dairy milk that are supposed to
be healthier than regular milk, in order to drive demand. This includes most prominently, A2 milk, on the basis of its arguably superior proteins, but also organic and cold pressed unpasteurised milk.
Consumer preferences have driven the success of alternative beverages to milk up until now.
While consumer preferences will naturally continue to fluctuate in the future, for the time being, IBISWorld expects the trends favouring alt-milk to persist.
Meanwhile, the response of the dairy sector will likely gather momentum based on health
and ethical farming innovations.
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✷ ABOUTTHEAUTHOR
DAIRY PROCESSING
“ Rising instances of lactose intolerance as well as general perceptions about the healthiness of dairy milk, has encouraged many consumers to seek out these alt-milks.”
However, since October 2018, Australian market leader Freedom Foods has released three flavours of its own pea-protein beverage, Like Milk. Hemp milk was legalised for consumption in Australia in November 2017. This still only makes up a tiny proportion of sales, and is sold in health-
food stores.
alternatives, creating a new avenue for growth for the industry.
Lion’s Vitasoy Café for Baristas soy milk has been around for a while, but since 2016 it has expanded its range to include almond and oat flavours.
In 2015 Freedom Foods launched its MilkLab range of non-dairy milk for baristas.
Matthew Reeves is a senior industry analyst
at IBISWorld. He specialises in the dairy and agriculture sectors, as well as food manufacturing industries.
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