100% of our own brand fresh milk, fresh cream, and cheddar cheese is made from British milk. We work with farmers across the country who deliver fresh milk from farm to store in just 24 hours.
Animal welfare is of upmost importance for both our members and customers. We carry out regular checks on top of Red Tractor standards through our continuous improvement model.
Our farmers pride themselves on providing their cows with comfy beds, nutritious feed and a safe environment. We also monitor and benchmark antibiotic usage and support industry targets set out by the independent group RUMA, Responsible use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance.
Find out more about our animal welfare standards.
By buying milk at the Co-op you are supporting our Dairy Group. This means high-quality, nutritious milk for you and a fair price for our farmers.
The CDG allows dairy farmers in the UK to share ideas and best practices. There are approximately 145 farmers supplying milk to Co-op, with six or seven regional representatives. Being part of the Group means we get a guaranteed price for every litre of milk we produce, and it provides us with the tools to invest in more sustainable farming methods.
Find out more about the Co-op Dairy Group
We use a ‘basket price’ method which takes into account cost of production to ensures our farmers benefit from being paid a fair price for every litre they produce.
Our farmers pride themselves on their commitment to reducing their environmental impact.
The CDG have been monitoring their carbon footprint since 2011, which has resulted in reducing our group members’ carbon footprint. Through our farming group meeting we continually look at way of reducing our impact and improving biodiversity.
We work with our dairy group to support our ambition of 100% responsibly sourced deforestation and conversion free soy - including used in feed. In dairy diets this has included a significant reduction of soy and we continue to work on the wider responsible sourcing approach to feed ingredients.
We are working to remove all coloured milk bottle tops in a bid to cut plastic and increase recyclability. Clear bottle tops reduce colour contamination in the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) stream, allowing materials to be recycled more easily into food-grade packaging.
