Ronald Sewak puts Fiji Dairy’s new Fresh Milk one-litre PET bottles into the Shop N Save supermarket fridge and affixes the price tag of $2.95. The two-litre milk is expected to be delivered today.
By RACHNA LAL
Fiji Dairy Limited has brought fresh milk back to the supermarkets.
Marketing director, Nathan Hildebrand, said this will at first be available in certain supermarkets in the Suva area. The distribution will gradually roll into other parts of the country as production allows.
Fresh milk from Fiji Dairy is available from today at MHCC Supermarket, MH Superfresh in Tamavua and Shop N Save in Nabua.
Distribution is also expected to be rolled out to NewWorld Supermarket in Valelevu and RB Centre Point store by next week.
The fresh milk will be available in one litre and two litre PET bottles.
“So obviously it’s a reusable bottle, a recyclable bottle and it’s fresh milk so it tastes much better,” Mr Hildebrand said.
Overcoming issues
Mr Hildebrand said originally, years ago the-then-Rewa Dairy was producing fresh milk.
He said this had stopped because of supply issues and quality control issues as far as maintaining the temperature throughout the supply chain.
Now under new ownership and improved management, it is back.
“We’ve addressed those issues and we’ve made sure that we’ve brought in specific designed cooler trucks,” Mr Hildebrand said.
“We have just bought a whole lot of chillers that will be installed to make sure that the integrity of the product is maintained.”
Price of fresh milk
Mr Hldebrand said from a price point of view, the fresh milk is extremely attractive.
“One litre costs $2.95 and a better offer is that the two litre costs $4.95 which is a little under $2.50 per litre,” he said.
“So the two litre is extremely economical because it’s much cheaper than buying a one litre.
“The issue though is that it must be kept in the fridge at four degrees Celsius or below to make sure that the integrity of the product is maintained.”
Clotting issue now over
Mr Hildebrand said the issue with milk clotting in the Rewa liquid milk packets has now completely been eradicated by flying in new equipment.
“We are very closely monitoring the output of the product that has been going out since the introduction of the machine and we haven’t seen any clotting at all so it’s very good,” he said.