Micro-filtered pasteurised milk in Tetra Top Carton Bottle

Shelf-life of just 4 days. This is not a big issue for local dairies but makes nationwide distribution highly impractical for, for example, large retail chains using their own private label.

An option for such chains is to co-pack locally in many places. Recently, however, the retailer Coop started to sell micro-filtered pasteurised milk nationwide thanks to the longer shelf-life possible using this technique together with the high-hygiene Tetra Top system. Coop can now guarantee the same quality of its milk regardless of in which Coop store it is purchased from throughout Italy.

Coop is not the pioneer in providing micro-filtered pasteurised milk with extended shelf-life in the Italian market. Both Parmalat (“Blue Premium” brand) and Granarolo (“Più Giorni”) are already available, the latter in Tetra Rex packaging. However, Coop is the first retailer using this technique in combination with a Tetra Top Carton Bottle package.

The full cream and semi-skimmed pasteurised milk in Tetra Top Base 1000 ml packages with ScrewCap (Katla H38), a package part of the Tetra Top Carton Bottle family, is pre-dated 11 days, 7 days more than typical Italian (locally produced) pasteurised milk.

Maybe surprisingly, the “Coop” micro-filtered milk in Tetra Top Carton Bottle is actually about 20% cheaper than locally produced pasteurised milk in gable top or plastic packages. The low price is a clear retail strategy from Coop’s part in order to offer consumers high quality milk with a saving.

Generally speaking, the consumer reaction to the concept of micro-filtered ESL milk is positive, even though most consumers only have a vague idea of what it really means. The popularity of Coop’s new products is growing this segment overall. However, the main reason for this growth is the fact that this product is cheaper than locally produced pasteurised milk, and you still get a modern package with attractive graphics printed in photo-process!

Today, micro-filtered products make up 5% of the total market for pasteurised milk.

For more information please contact: Susanne Glingestam, Tetra Pak Carton Chilled