Albert Heijn’s launch of hybrid milks in Netherlands

Dutch retailer Albert Heijn has this week launched a new range of dairy and plant milk blends. Behind this move are two companies in dairy and food-tech: Farm Dairy Netherlands and PlanetDairy Denmark.

PlanetDairy has combined its proprietary core technology with Farm Dairy’s production platform to make this new blended milk product possible. It offers the taste and nutritional profile of traditional dairy with the lower carbon benefits of plant ingredients, the firms say.

“We first met Albert Heijn in the spring of 2024″, explains Dr Paul Cornillon, CTO of PlanetDairy, “We shared the success of our cheese launch in the Nordic markets and approached them with ideas on cheese, milk and yogurt.” Hans Zijlstra, manager of quality & technology at Farm Dairy adds, “The first challenge to overcome was taste and appearance. The new milk blend had to look and taste like traditional dairy milk that people are used to. Then of course, it needs to be affordable. So ingredients must be selected carefully. And in between, the team also had to ensure a strong nutrition profile.”

Cornillon says, “Once we had agreed the overall project objectives, we started with the lab prototypes we had developed in the PlanetDairy test kitchen and put our heads down to work out the optimal solution.”

“PlanetDairy brought in knowledge and expertise on plant proteins and how they can contribute to lowering CO₂ footprint. Combined with our heritage in traditional dairy and our experience in plant-based products led to a partnership,” adds Zijlstra.

Each round of product development was interspersed with consumer feedback and then presented to Albert Heijn. In this process, the right formula was reached: Looks like traditional milk, tastes like traditional milk, has a great nutritional profile, and can be priced competitively.

“At Albert Heijn, we pride ourselves on being pathbreakers in Dutch retail. The Farm Dairy and PlanetDairy partnership has enabled us to be the first to launch dairy and plant milk blends in the Netherlands,” states Jan de Graaf, head of dairy category at Albert Heijn.

Jakob Skovgaard, CEO PlanetDairy, notes, “This is just the first step. We are already working on our next project together: yogurt blends.”