Union wants grocers to push milk in '˜food to go' deals

Supermarkets are being urged to offer milk as part of their 'food to go' deals as a healthy alternative to lunch-time fizzy drinks.

The NFUS wants retailers to sell milk alongside snacks. Picture: TSPL/Robert Perry

NFU Scotland has written to the nation’s biggest supermarkets asking them to add fresh milk to the sandwich sections of their Scottish stores after one-pint cartons proved a hit during a farmer-led campaign in Devon.

The union is urging grocers to look favourably on this pilot and asking them to explore opportunities to make fresh milk available in front-of-store convenience chillers across Scotland.

Milk committee chairman Graeme Kilpatrick said that, with the vast majority of Scottish dairy farmers currently receiving some of the worst milk prices in a generation, he was keen to see retailers look at fresh ideas to promote and sell milk and dairy products while at the same time guaranteeing that a fairer share of the margin arrives back at the farm gate.

He said: “The initiative sparked in Devon shows the potential that repositioning milk can have. As dairy farmers, we want to see shoppers given the opportunity to choose fresh nutritious milk over sugary soft drinks, selling it alongside sandwiches and snacks.”

He said that good news in the dairy sector was hard to come by. “The dairy farming crisis is deepening with the majority of Scottish farmers now receiving less than 19p per litre.”