Using every drop of milk
Dairy Crest is the UK's leading dairy company. Our business depends on milk and we make sure we use every drop we buy. This diagram shows how milk flows through our business and the products we make from it
We operate across two divisions, Foods and Dairies
This flow diagram only covers our UK operations, excluding St Hubert, France
Milk Procurement
A sustainable supply of high quality milk is important to Dairy Crest. We buy 2.1bn litres each year - around 1 litre in every 6 produced in Great Britain
Foods
Our UK Foods division is made up of our Cheese and our UK Spreads businesses. The Cheese business uses over 400 million litres of milk each year, which is all sourced direct from dairy farmers in Devon and Cornwall and is turned into cheddar cheese at our Creamery in Davidstow, Cornwall
Our spreads business makes butter and dairy spreads from cream skimmed from the milk used by our Dairies division
Ingredients
As well as selling whey from the cheese manufacturing process and buttermilk that is produced when we make butter, our Ingredients team also sell skimmed milk powder, creams and bulk butter to food manufacturers
Dairies
Our Dairies division processes around 1.7 billion litres of milk each year. Most is sourced directly from dairy farmers across the southern half of England and Wales. Milk production is seasonal, with more being produced in the spring, but because our consumers want to drink the same amount every day, we turn any surplus milk we have into skimmed milk powder and butter. Over 90% of the milk our Dairies division buys is sold in liquid form, through UK retailers, ‘middle ground’ customers ranging from coffee shops to hospitals, and direct to consumers’ doorsteps by our milkmen
Today's consumers prefer to drink lower fat varieties of milk so we skim off the cream and sell it or churn it into butter
Our Dairies division also produces a range of potted cream for consumers to enjoy
Overseas operations
St Hubert, France
We bought St Hubert, our French spreads business, in January 2007. St Hubert purchases cream in France to make branded spreads for the French and Italian markets
