A soon-to-be-launched "milk for coffee" range by Freedom Foods has taken out a new product award at Fine Food Australia 2015 in the Foodservice category.
The MILKLAB range has been created specifically for baristas and includes a dairy option as well as a lactose free dairy option and non-dairy variants: almond, soy and coconut milk.
The latter is Australia's first locally produced coconut barista milk, according to Freedom Foods.
The company says the MILKLAB brand will be the first to take every key milk-type being used in speciality coffee and craft a special formula for this channel.
MILKLAB, which was more than a year in the making, aims to prevent dairy-free milks from splitting or curdling and offers other specific properties, such as textures and stretches, that are required in coffee making.
Moreover, the soy and coconut variants have been tested and validated with some of Australia's leading Baristas.
“When we came up with the idea to service the speciality coffee market, we knew we had to go right to the source,” Freedom Foods MILKLAB brand representative, Angelo De Blasio said.
“Working with all of these influential players has been crucial to the development of what we plan to launch very soon.”
Fine Food Australia organisers said The Best New Product Awards provide an opportunity to recognise the most outstanding products to have launched in the food industry in the last twelve months, and are all about celebrating the best solutions for challenges experienced by the industry. Other categories included retail, hospitality, bakery and Australian made.
The winner in the Best New Retail category was The Soda Press Co with its Old Fashioned Lemonade Soda Syrup, which its makers describe as a‘small batch, slow brew’ syrup that delivers bold flavour with less sugar.
Exhibition director Minnie Constan said: “2015 has once again proved to be an exciting and challenging year for our industry. We constantly need to reinvent ourselves and evolve in line with consumer demands and industry trends, and the New Product Awards is a great opportunity to recognise those businesses who are doing just that. It’s also a great way to celebrate everything that is great about the business we are in."
Demand for Australia’s premium food is also rising across Asia, according to Austrade, which recruited over 100 international buyers to attend Fine Food Australia this year.
Austrade executive director, international operations, Grame Barty said Australia was well positioned to benefit and expand its exports of high-quality produce.
“Our reputation for quality, safe produce is well recognised throughout Asia and Australia’s meat, dairy, fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood and wine are all in demand,” Barty said.
“There are huge opportunities to grow exports of these products to a region of nearly three billion new, middle class consumers with a discretionary income to spend.”
