Swedish potato milk brand Dug has expanded its UK presence with a trio of dairy alternatives in Waitrose.
Its Barista, Original and Unsweetened potato milks will roll out to 220 stores on Wednesday 9 February (rsp: £1.80) after launching online with the retailer on Monday [7 February].
Said to be low in sugar and fat, the Original variant contains 39 calories and 1.5g of fat per serving and is made from potato (6%), water and rapeseed oil.
The product also contains pea protein and chicory fibre, with the brand also claiming it is the only plant-based dairy alternative to be fortified with folic acid – containing 15% of the recommended value.
Calcium, vitamin D, riboflavin and vitamin B12 have also been added.
Said to have a “neutral taste that doesn’t impact the taste or consistency of recipes”, Veg of Lund-owned Dug is aiming to shake up the milk alternatives market, which is currently dominated by oats, and saw sales grow by 49.9% to £146.8m last year [Kantar 52 w/e August 2021].
It comes as the potato milk is already being used by food manufacturers in the UK.
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“Dug is in use in the production of a number of recently launched vegan ready meals and several major manufacturers are at the point of including Dug in their recipes as they respond to the ever more demanding NPD briefs of grocery retailers,” said Veg of Lund UK sales manager Graham Stonadge.
“Focused on the unsweetened variant, which we have made available in a production-friendly 10-litre bag-in-box, Dug is becoming an important ingredient in a variety of popular pasta and rice dishes with bechamel sauces, carbonaras and curry sauces.”
The Waitrose listing comes hot on the heels of Dug’s launch through Ocado last month. The range is also sold on Amazon and The Vegan Kind Supermarket.
Last year Waitrose tipped potato milk as a trend to watch in its 2021/2022 Food & Drink report due to its low sugar and saturated fat content.
New Covent Garden Market’s recent Fruit and Vegetable Trends Report 2022 also predicted potato milk would be a hit this year, due to the method of potato farming, which produced “considerably less” CO2 than dairy and used half the land required for the same amount of oat milk.
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