America’s biggest dairy group, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), is capitalising on the growing return of plant milk drinkers to the dairy aisle with a new lactose-free milk that's promoted for fewer calories and more nutrition than plant milks.
Milk50, with 50 referring to the number of calories per 240ml serving, was launched under the brand Dairy Pure in February 2025 and is promoted as “a more nutritious option than plant-based beverages, which lack the protein and other nutrients in real dairy milk.”
Milk 50 is ultra-filtered to increase the protein, remove the lactose and create a product that has 75% less sugar than regular skim milk. The product comes in three flavours: Original, Vanilla and Chocolate. It will be available in Target stores nationwide and sell at around $4.49 (€4.13) per 1700ml bottle.
One 240ml serving of Milk50 Original delivers 50 kcal (about half of that in regular skim milk), 0g fat, 8g carbohydrates, 9 grams of protein (1g more than regular skim milk), and 3 grams of sugar (a quarter of that in regular skim milk). It also provides 10-15% of the RDI of vitamins A and D and 20% of the RDI of calcium.
Compared to Fairlife, the market leader in the US lactose-free milk market, Milk50 has 30 less calories, 4g less protein and 3g less sugar. It is missing some micronutrients that Fairlife contains, such as zinc, phosphorus and B vitamins.
To achieve sweetness and fewer calories Milk50 uses a mixture of sweeteners (allulose, sucralose, ace K or stevia) to bring back some of the sweetness lost in the ultra-filtration process. This, along with the use of thickeners like guar gum and carrageenan means that the ingredient list of Milk50’s original variety is more than twice as long as that for Fairlife’s fat-free milk and three times as long as that of a regular fortified fat-free dairy milk.
An important reason for bringing out the range was consumers’ quest for protein, along with an observation by DFA that many consumers swap to plant milks for calorie reasons but are often left wanting. “They've been forced to compromise on both taste and nutrition. Now they don't have to settle for less,” DFA’s CMO Rachel Kyllo said.
DFA-commissioned research found that 58% of the 2,000 US consumers surveyed had started to add dairy back into their diets due to disappointments with the price, taste and level of processing of plant-based options.
The Milk50 launch is supported by a marketing plan that includes video, digital, retail and social media with messaging focusing on welcoming customers back to dairy. The brand website features an ‘Us vs. Them’ comparison to almond milk which highlights the superior nutritional profile of Milk50, and messages include “Tastes like real dairy milk. Because that’s what it is.”
The lactose-free milk category is one of the biggest growth stories in the US supermarket. While sales of plant milks are falling, lactose-free is growing in double digits. Sales almost equalled those of plant milks in 2024 and will overtake plant milks in 2025.
