The UK’s top fruit smoothie and juice brand, Innocent Drinks, has announced the release of their very first range of vegan-friendly nut and oat milk. Waitrose and Ocado will be the first stockists, with Tescos, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons’ shelves next in line for the new products.
Alpro and Oatly are just two of the current major brands dominating the dairy-free milk market, but, after a year of development and a £4 million effort to enable this move; Innocent is now set to compete with its own almond, oat, and hazelnut milk varieties.
Furthermore, the new bottles are recyclable and made from a minimum of 30% recycled PET, a safe non-toxic and recyclable plastic material. So, not only are these new milk options made from sustainable ingredients, but even the bottles promote a cleaner future.
In keeping with its “Innocent” title, the company has ensured that both its new almond and oat milks contain only their respective main ingredient with spring water and salt. The hazelnut variety has added organic rice, this allows the product to deliver the texture of milk that consumers desire – without the process of adding unnatural additives. The majority of other pre-made packaged vegan milk on the mainstream market contain stabilizers and come packaged in, less environmentally-friendly, Tetra Paks.
“We set ourselves a huge challenge to produce a great tasting and great looking product in a PET bottle without using any artificial additives,” Innocent’s managing director for the UK and Ireland told The Grocer. “We’re really proud of what we produced.”
Considering the growing opportunities for businesses in this sector, delving into the plant-based market is a major brand focus for this coming year, Canney added. According to the managing director, many of Innocent’s customers share this vision for the company’s future.
The upcoming range of plant-based milk will have a retail selling price of £1.99 per 750 ml.
Image Credit: The Grocer
This post was last modified on December 15, 2020 6:30 am