Kerry partnership to help create more dairy alternative products

Taste and nutrition business Kerry has signed a partnership to support the creation of more sustainable dairy alternative products and enhance market growth for the plant-based category in Asia Pacific.

The collaboration between Kerry and Unigrain, an Australian producer of plant-based food and beverage ingredients, is designed to provide food and beverage brands and manufacturers access to a unique combination of ingredients, R&D and processing solutions that will help them craft oat milk and other applications using Australian-grown oats.

The partnership is a step towards the creation of a dairy alternative expertise ecosystem, where other ingredients and processing partners are invited be part of the collective to accelerate the move towards sustainable nutrition solutions. Kerry will support on technology development, applications and enzymes, flavours, maskers and nutrition.

Kerry and Unigrain will also co-create a range of applications for its customers across Asia Pacific.

Commenting on the partnership, Christine Giuliano, Managing Director, Kerry Australia & New Zealand, said: “We are excited to be collaborating with Unigrain. As our current supplier of oat flour, Unigrain is now our partner to drive an ambitious plant-based growth plan in keeping with Asia Pacific’s fast-growing dairy alternative industry, estimated at more than US$5bn, with an expected 16.3% CAGR to reach US$12bn by 2028. Combining our end-to-end capabilities with Unigrain’s unique oat expertise and production infrastructure, we are excited to be the force for change in the next phase of growth in the dairy alternative space.”

Fiona May, co-CEO of Unigrain, said: “We are proud to be partnering Kerry to help drive awareness, thought leadership and category growth in the dairy alternative sector. In the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, oat milk has overtaken almond as the #2 dairy alternative among new product development in the region. As the leading oat expert in Australia and Asia, our investment in advanced oat milk and oat ingredient production will help drive multiple benefits to these markets. With our combined expertise, we provide an incredibly strong offering that can deliver highly optimised solutions and enable the development and manufacture of high-quality sustainable functional ingredients, bringing significant value to customers.”