Soya Health Foods, the producer of soya milk brand Sunrise, is heating up the competition in the soya beverages market with the launch of a range of juice and milk drinks aimed at the breakfast table.

The Sunrise Healthy Start range will be available in three juice variants: orange & mango, mandarin & pomegranate and apple & raspberry, all priced at £1.69. The line up also includes an organic honey and vanilla milk offering, which will come with a £1.39 price tag.

Healthy Start is going head to head with a number of other suppliers looking to tap into this market. One of the biggest launches last year came from Unilever UK, which introduced Adez, a range of fruit juices blended with soya and fortified with vitamins and minerals. To back the launch Unilever poured £12m into marketing.

Soya Health Foods said its Sunrise Healthy Start drink had been designed to appeal to consumers who find current soya products in the market - both the idea and taste - a bit of a turn off.

"Although soya has been around for quite a while, no one has yet exploited its true potential," said marketing director Robin Gleave. "The market is full of consumer products making health claims that don't stack up. We've made sure our cholesterol-lowering claim on-pack is backed by the Joint Claims Initiative."

The company said one of the main barriers to growing the market was the resistance of both soya users as well as non users, to the taste of soya. "We had to find a way of promoting soya's cholesterol-lowering benefit with a good taste experience," said Gleave.

Soya Health Foods will be backing Sunrise Healthy Start with a marketing push including events, sampling and consumer offers. It has already secured listings in several independent health food outlets as well as in wholesalers Bestway and Batleys.