A new product on the market compresses the nutrients of two litres of cow’s milk into a one-litre carton. While the product nods to consumers' growing push for clean-label options, is it promoting unsustainable production?
UK-based dairy nutrition company SuperNutrio has launched a high-protein cow’s milk. According to its website, the company takes two litres of cow’s milk then filters and compresses it into a one-litre carton. The result: milk with 80% more calcium than standard varieties and 70 grams of protein per litre, achieved without added any additional ingredients.
SuperNutrio’s milk comes in three offerings, retailing for £2.50 (€2.98) per carton, and is available across the UK, both online and in-store at supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
What sets SuperNutrio’s products apart from many other high protein dairy drinks available on the market is its clean label status, due to its only ingredient, cow’s milk. Other offerings on the market today contain cow’s milk as a base ingredient, but often have added ingredients to enable a high-protein content. One common addition is whey protein formulas: although these often use whey derived from cow's milk, they can also contain added sugars or non-nutritive sweeteners to improve the formulations taste, and the added whey must also be declared as a separate ingredient on the label.
SuperNutrio’s milk delivers on high protein, without these additions. The company's offerings include whole, semi-skimmed, and skimmed cartons. Per 100 millilitres, the three products each contain 7 grams of protein. The main variation across the product range is the fat content, which either increases or decreases the caloric content: whole (3.6 g fat and 81 calories per 100 ml), semi-skimmed (1.7 g fat and 64 calories) and skimmed (0.3 g fat and 49 calories).
Fi Global Insights sat down with Louis Bedwell to discuss the importance of balancing consumer demand with sustainability in light of the recent launch. Bedwell is a London-based food industry consultant focused on the divergence of climate, health, and innovation.
Looking only at the nutritional aspects of SuperNutrio’s milk, it’s a game changer, positioned as a welcome option for consumers looking for nutrient-dense products with minimal, natural ingredients. However, ingredients are not the only aspects that make up a “clean label”.
The growing debate on ultra-processed foods leaves questions about whether a processed food product can still be considered clean label. Bedwell notes that Supernutrio’s approach may appeal to clean label seekers as it adds no additional ingredients to its formulas, yet he adds “heavily processing milk to intensify nutrients can blur the [clean label] line.”
Consumer confusion around what can be considered a clean label has persisted for years. The term itself is not scientific, rather it is a consumer term, which over time has become broadly accepted by the food industry, consumers, academics, and even regulatory agencies, IFT notes.
According to Innova Markets Insights, the top three meanings that consumers globally associate with the clean label trend include: formulations without additives; with natural ingredients; and positioned as environmentally friendly.
At a time when feeding the growing population is a looming challenge – by 2050 we will have to feed an estimated 10 billion people – is a product that has taken two litres of milk to produce one litre of finished product a sustainable option?
Advanced filtration systems are often needed to produce concentrated milk products, inevitably leading to high energy and water outputs, which in the long term may not be a scalable and sustainable solution.
In addition, concentrating milk results in the production of byproducts. In SuperNutrio’s case, that would be one litre of byproduct from the original two litre starting product. This byproduct would likely contain water, lactose and certain minerals. Upcycling these types of byproducts is possible, for example as animal feed or ingredients for the food industry, however the process SuperNutrio employs for byproduct handling is not clear.
Fi Global Insights reached out to SuperNutrio for comment in regard to how it manages or minimises these resource demands and the process it employs for byproduct handling, but the company did not respond by the time of publication.
Bedwell, discussing whether it is a mistake to always follow consumer demand, looks at the balance this way: “Following consumer demand can lead us into short-term wins but may overlook longer-term health or sustainability goals.”
He added that when companies chase trends, they run the risk that the finished product created might not always benefit the consumer or the planet. Bedwell argues that strategic foresight, rather than simply demand-chasing can help ensure brands responsibly meet consumer needs while creating genuine products with lasting value.
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