The latest news, trends, analysis, interviews and podcasts from the global food and beverage industry

Dairy giant Arla has introduced a new line of whole meal replacement shakes into the Danish market.

The new beverages, named Arla Protein Food to Go, come in two varieties, chocolate/caramel and vanilla/hazelnut.

Each ‘drinkable meal’ contains a minimum of 15% of the recommended daily amount of vitamins and minerals, as well as 12g of fibre and 30g of protein, providing a convenient and nutritious option for busy consumers.

Henrik Lilballe, director of Arla Denmark, said: “We would like to help develop the beverage meal area together with our customers. Our expectation is that we can grow the relatively new subcategory within milk-based beverages."

He added: "But drinking meals are relatively unknown to the Danes, and there is clearly a lot of work in explaining to consumers how the products can be used and in which situations, as well as how they are different from the products that are already on the market today."

Lilballe continued: “We expect a soft start, because this is a completely new category that speaks to a very concrete consumption situation. And it's going to take some time. But we have great expectations, and we believe that Arla Protein Food to Go can become big in Denmark in the future."

He continued: "When we look at other European markets, we can see that drinkable meals speak right into a number of trends in health, and we expect an increasing demand for functional foods”.

Arla says the drink’s launch is the result of a long-term innovation process and product development at a ‘high level’, and the cooperative expects to introduce the drinks to UK and Dutch markets in the coming months.

The launch comes after Arla's investment in July, when it injected DKK 200 million (approx. $29 million) into its Esbjerg Dairy Center in Denmark, to support the growth of its milk-based beverage segment.

Lilballe concluded: “Our efforts to develop an Arla version of a drinking meal contributed to us initiating the project, where we rethought our processes across departments and markets to create a concept with potential across Europe as quickly as possible. This was a pilot project for both the concept and our work process.”

#Arla #mealreplacement #dairy #shake