| Arla Foods Ltd. | |
| Trade Name: | Arla UK |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Foundation: | [1] |
| Location City: | Leeds |
| Location Country: | United Kingdom |
| Area Served: | United Kingdom |
| Products: | Dairy products – Lurpak, Cravendale, Lactofree |
| Revenue: | £2,620 million (2018)[2] |
| Num Employees: | 3,460 |
| Parent: | Arla Foods |
Arla Foods Ltd. is a major dairy products company in the United Kingdom, based in Leeds, and a subsidiary of Arla Foods, which is owned by its farmer owners in seven countries including the UK.
The company was created by the merger in 1980 of the British dairy group Express Dairies and the British subsidiary of Arla Foods, a Swedish-Danish dairy production co operative, jointly owned by Swedish and Danish farmers. The parent company, Arla Foods Amba, initially held a 51% stake, but acquired the rest of the company's shares in April 2007.[3]
In Britain, Arla supplies milk to retailers and produces many household brands, such as Lurpak, Anchor Butter, Cravendale, Lactofree and Castello.
According to the BBC, in August 2015, farmers were paid less per pint of milk by Arla than by supermarkets that buy directly.[4] [5]
In August 2021, people acting on behalf of Animal Rebellion blockaded Arla's dairy facility in Aylesbury citing the large climate and ecological burden of dairy production when compared to plant based alternatives.[6] The same site was again blockaded in September 2022.[7]
In November 2024, Arla, and Müller became subject to a boycott by some consumers, after they announced that they would add Bovaer (3-Nitrooxypropanol) to the cattle feed of some of their cows as a trial to reduce methane emissions. The boycott, according to Arla, and The Grocer, is down to misinformation over the safety of Bovaer and its claimed links to Bill Gates, which has been misattributed to different company in the same industry which Bill Gates has invested into.[8] In response to the announcement, the Soil Association said that 3-Nitrooxypropanol would not be classed as an organic ingredient.[9]
Arla is the largest supplier of fresh milk and cream in the United Kingdom, producing over 2.2 billion litres of milk per year. It produces two premium milk brands: Cravendale filtered milk, which undergoes a filtration process to remove bacteria before pasteurization; and Lactofree milk, from which lactose is removed, making it suitable for most lactose intolerant people. Following the success of Lactofree milk, Arla introduced a range of lactose-free products, including cheese and yoghurt.
As well as fresh milk, Arla produces the Anchor butter brand in the United Kingdom and Lurpak is produced by its Danish farmers. This was not widely publicised by the company, even though the brands had been established over decades as brands for butter imported from Denmark and New Zealand respectively. Other products include fromage frais, yoghurts and the blue cheeses Rosenborg and Danish Blue. The firm also produces fruit juice.
The company has processing plants in England at Palmers Green (London), Stourton (Leeds), Settle (North Yorkshire) and Malpas (Cheshire), and in Scotland at Lockerbie. In January 2009, Arla ceased production at its dairy in Manchester.[10] The company also operates the world's largest milk processing plant in Aylesbury, which was opened on 24 May 2014.[11]
Arla Foods obtained the Westbury Dairies plant in January 2016,[12] in Westbury, Wiltshire, which has become a site for the production of Anchor butter.[13]
Arla Foods briefly operated the Milk Link dairy in Crediton, Devon following the merger with Milk Link in 2012. However was sold in a management buyout in April 2013 with the Crediton operations being renamed as Crediton Dairy Limited.