Dairy has long been an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet. Today, the dairy landscape is experiencing an evolution as environmental concerns jostle with the need to sustain a growing global population with safe and nutritious food, report packaging and processing leaders Tetra Pak
Consumer purchasing decisions now come wrapped up in a myriad of social, environmental, and ethical dilemmas: Is organic milk a more sustainable choice? And how does switching to oat milk affect the livelihood of dairy farmers around the world?
Furthermore, the pandemic has thrown food safety into sharp focus as consumers look for reassurance around food quality and its safety. In recent consumer research, conducted together with Ipsos, 68% of consumers agreed that food safety is a major concern for society. Generally, consumers are much less sure about aspects of food safety that they can’t control.
There is particular concern around how products are stored in stores or markets (43%), as well as industrial production (36%), packing (36%) and sourcing (34%).
Over the past year there have been a number of new white milk launches utilising aseptic packaging formats, meeting consumer needs such as health and weight loss, sustainability, organic and ‘bio’ food, whilst also addressing food waste, convenience on-the-go, ‘clean’ label food without compromising additives and/or with added health benefits, ingredient and supply chain transparency, animal welfare, and so on.
Consumer trends and the dairy industry
These concerns form part of the trends seen in the UK and elsewhere towards a preference for locally grown fruit and vegetables, the need for occasional indulgences (heightened by COVID- 19 and the difficulty of socialising) and the move towards responsible consumption.
In the dairy industry this has translated into more products on the market with origin stories, smaller formats for kids and on-the-go consumers, hybrid milks such as milk with oats, lactose free and no-added-sugar milk, gluten free and organic milk, as well