IRISH dairy famers are hoping a new joint export venture will bring in the green in Britain.
'Green milk', a 100 per cent natural dairy product made with the addition of a “hint of mint” is in development and expected to hit the shelves of British supermarkets by the end of the month.
John Mooney, from the Irish Creamery Suppliers Association, told The Irish Post that the “low fat green milk contains the same amount of Vitamin A and D as regular semi-skimmed milk and retains all the calcium content.”
The addition of mint will turn the product green in colour and add a subtle minty taste, he explained.
"If people are willing to eat avocados, green beans and parsley, I don't see why they won't drink green milk", said Mooney.
Con MacFarlane from consumer research body Mintel said that the last two years have seen a huge boom in alternative “blended drinks" and that products with the "addition of pure crushed fruit or herbs to yogurt, milk or soymilk” were expected to grow in popularity in 2016.
There are presently under 20,000 dairy farmers in Ireland producing over five billion litres per year.
The recent end of EU milk quotas means that an extra two billion litres of milk will be produced by 2020 and Irish dairy farmers are now thinking of clever ways of marketing Ireland's fresh dairy products abroad.
Independent farmers from Ireland’s top producing dairy farms in Cork, Limerick and Tipperary are involved in the green scheme.
Green Milk will hit the shelves in Britain at the end of the month (Picture: Irish Creamery Association)Dudley White, a dairy farmer from Clonakilty told The Irish Post that he did not believe the colour green would put customers off. "You've got strawberry milk, banana milk and chocolate milk already" he said, "so why not Green Milk?"
Verity Warrington, spokesperson from supermarket giant Tesco said they have committed to trial Green Milk in “23 selected Tesco outlets” later this month.
The unusually coloured offering will sit “alongside our current fresh milk offering in the chilled aisles, offering customers another extra fresh and healthy dairy option,” said Warrington.
Recently, Irish supermarket SuperQuinn debuted a range of limited edition green Superquinn sausages for St Patrick’s Day.
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