A round-up of the week’s key events in the dairy sector in Ukraine and around the world 👇
🛒 Ukraine’s top 10 grocery chains by store count and opening pace, H1 2026
Grocery retail is the main sales channel for dairy, so shifts in the store rankings matter directly to dairy producers.
🧬 Can dairy retain its bioactive benefits without sacrificing food safety?
By preserving naturally occurring milk exosomes that conventional processing often destroys, biotech startup Exosomm says it can help manufacturers deliver clinically relevant bioactive benefits without trading away food safety, shelf life or scalability.
🧪 Whey demand set to rise as scientists turn it into bioethanol
Researchers have developed a new way to convert whey into bioethanol — potentially opening a valuable new market for a dairy byproduct whose demand is already soaring.
💪 Protein become a mainstream nutrition platform rather than a sports nutrition category
Protein has outgrown sports nutrition to become a mainstream food-and-drink ingredient.
🍦 Russia destroys Lasunka’s warehouse complex: ice cream supply disruptions possible
One of Ukraine’s largest ice cream producers has lost a warehouse of finished products prepared for dispatch to retail chains.
🐄 End of the floating farm: all cows go up for sale
Rotterdam’s floating farm was meant to be a symbol of urban milk production, but after seven years its owners must sell all 28 cows, TopAgrar reports.
🤖 AI enters the food lab: the rise of predictive ingredient development
Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved beyond brainstorming into the working infrastructure of food and beverage innovation, with ingredient suppliers, product developers and major brands using specialised systems to organise research, model formulations, predict ingredient behaviour, interpret consumer signals and reduce physical trials before commercialisation.
🇦🇷 Danone doubles down on Argentina as rivals retreat from dairy
Danone and Argentina’s Arcor have finalised a dairy joint venture in Argentina, combining Danone’s regional operations with local supplier Mastellone Hermanos under a jointly controlled structure.
👔 New Ehrmann Cornish Dairy CEO eyes major growth
The dairy producer has appointed a new chief executive with his sights set on becoming «one of the top three dairy companies in the UK».
🍼 Colostrum: functional treasure or cruel wellness fad?
The controversial ingredient is growing in popularity, but debate still rages over both its health benefits and its animal welfare credentials.
🥛 Americans are rethinking their love affair with plant milks
Alternative milks entered the mainstream in force in the 2010s.
♻️ Aldi and Arla trial UV-tagged milk bottles to track recycling
Aldi and Arla Foods UK have launched an eight-week trial using ultraviolet (UV) tags to track milk bottles through the recycling system.
🏗️ Construction of 31 livestock complexes potentially eligible for the state support program
Ukraine plans to continue its state support program for the construction and reconstruction of livestock complexes in 2026, with 31 enterprises already building complexes and potentially eligible for state compensation — projects to create and modernise cattle-keeping complexes, as well as sheep- and goat-breeding operations, said Andriy Kravchenko, deputy director of the Agrarian Development Department and head of the livestock unit, on Suspilne TV.
🧀 Netherlands: 62% of milk is turned into cheese
Last year, the Dutch dairy industry processed 14.1 billion kg of milk, over 2% more than in 2024, with approximately 62% used to make cheese, sector organisation ZuivelNL reports in its «Dairy in Figures 2025» publication.
🌡️ Italy’s dairy sector faces severe problems amid extreme heat
The extreme heatwave of summer 2026 has hit Italy’s livestock farms hard, with talk of «a consequent reduction in milk production of around 10%», co-op association Confcooperative has warned through its dairy sector president, Alessandro Mocellin.
📊 Significant milk oversupply in Belgium, Austria and Germany
EU cow’s-milk collection rose 3.7% in January–May 2026 versus the same period in 2025, the European Commission reported, with May 2026 up 2.4% year on year.
🇩🇪 Lactalis Germany invests $56.9M to expand Neuburg dairy plant
Lactalis Germany is putting US$56.9 million (€50 million) into a major capacity expansion at its Neuburg dairy facility in Bavaria, shoring up its position in Germany’s fresh dairy market as part of its long-term growth plans.
