The launch of a2 Milk®, sourced from U.S. cows and available widely throughout California from April 2015, will not only provide consumers with a nutritious, natural cows’ milk with a real digestive advantage, but also offers American dairy farmers a chance to bring people back to dairy.

a2 Milk® has changed the face of the milk category in Australia which, since the brand’s acceleration of growth, is one of the few mature dairy milk markets no longer in decline.

In a short time, a2 Milk® has become Australia’s leading premium milk brand, accounting for nearly ten percent of the market by value. The brand has recently begun sales in the United Kingdom and is now also available as an infant formula in China.

a2 Milk® is completely natural cows’ milk with one small, but important, difference.

Many people find a2 Milk® easier to digest than ordinary milk, because:
· Along with other proteins, most cows produce milk that contains two types of beta-casein protein—A1 and A2—and studies suggest that some of the reported difficulty in digesting milk might be caused by an intolerance to the A1 protein, which is found in most of the milk currently sold in stores in the U.S.
· The natural difference in the protein composition of a2 Milk® leads to a difference in digestion from ordinary milk.
· a2 Milk® is produced from cows that have been hand-picked because they naturally produce milk that contains only A2 protein—and no A1.

The A2 protein found in a2 Milk® is naturally-occurring and is not the result of a technological process or genetic engineering.
The a2 Milk Company™ works with U.S. farmers to identify and certify cows that produce only A2 protein and no A1, using a patented, noninvasive DNA-testing process.
The cows that produce only A2 are placed into special herds and milked separately to ensure the integrity of the milk and that it contains only A2 protein.

An emerging body of research, including an independent U.S. study in 2009 published in Nutrition Today, shows that one in four Americans feel discomfort after drinking milk, and a large proportion of these people are misdiagnosing themselves as lactose intolerant. Additionally, a recent human study (by Curtin University’s School of Public Health in Australia and published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2014) found that A1 beta-casein protein digests differently than A2.

For consumers who have not been clinically diagnosed with lactose intolerance, yet feel uncomfortable after drinking ordinary cows’ milk and tempted to seek alternatives, the entry of a2 Milk® to the U.S. market should encourage them to rethink dairy and bring milk back into their daily routines.

“We hope that the availability of a2 Milk® in the U.S. will increase milk consumption overall, reverse the trend of declining milk consumption and improve the nutritional health of Americans,” said Bonnie Johnson, MS, RDN, Nutrition Director for The a2 Milk Company™. “There are many people who feel uncomfortable after they drink ordinary milk or even lactose-free milk, but they may be able to enjoy a2 Milk® without discomfort—so this one small difference could make a big difference in many people’s lives.”

a2 Milk® will be widely available in stores throughout California from April 2015 in whole milk, reduced-fat (2% fat), low-fat (1% fat) and non-fat varieties, with an on-shelf price around $4.50 per half-gallon carton.