NEW Zealand milk giant Fonterra has launched a new highly filtered fresh milk in Australia under its flagship Anchor brand.
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Anchor Milk has arrived here to offer up to 40 per cent longer refrigeration life, thanks to new microfiltration technology.
Anchor's finely filtered whole milk launched in Victoria this week with a recommended retail price of $2.49 for a one-litre bottle, or $3.29 for a two-litre bottle, while the Anchor light milk alternative sells for $2.69 and $3.49 for one- and two-litre bottles respectively.
Fonterra has committed to collecting five cents from the sale of every bottle of Anchor milk and cream sold to invest back into sustainable dairy farming initiatives via its Anchor Dairy Fund.
The donation will be capped at $250,000 a year.
Produced through the company's Cobden processing plant in state's south west, the new milk range is conventionally pasteurised.
However, the Anchor brand goes one step further using microfiltration to reduce the naturally occurring bacteria in pasteurised milk which cause spoilage by an additional 95 per cent.
The special ceramic filters extend the shelf life of normal pasteurised milk from 15 to 21 days.
Fonterra insists no additives or preservatives are added to Anchor milk to achieve the longer shelf life.
Anchor milk is being sourced from 34 farms near Cobden which produce "high quality milk year round", said Fonterra's director of marketing Kiril Simonovski.
He said the move was a coup for the Cobden plant as the first to use the microfiltration process in Australia.
"Milk has become something of a commodity in Australia, but we saw the opportunity to raise the bar with Anchor and believe microfiltration will be a game-changer, with Victoria our first market," Mr Simonovski said.
"We know consumers shop by used-by-date because they want the freshest product.
"We think Anchor will appeal to households looking for a premium product with a price only slightly higher than regular milk.
Anchor, sold through Woolworths supermarkets, was "clean on the palette and has distinctly no after-taste - even after a week or two in the fridge".
CSIRO's food manufacturing leader, Darren Gardiner, noted microfiltration had been received well in other parts of the world, including the UK and Canada.
"The additional step of filtering out the unwanted bacteria in milk before pasteurisation is a major development in fresh milk," Mr Gardiner said.
"We congratulate Anchor on making this investment and bringing this innovation to milk in Australia."
